The Boston College Graduate Employees Union – United Auto Workers (BCGEU-UAW) celebrated the National Labor Relations Board’s decision declaring the graduate workers at Boston College are considered employees under the National Labor Relations Act, and moving the process forward toward an election. The Board rejected the university’s arguments that its employees were exempt from the Act due to Boston College’s religious mission, and recognized the fundamental similarity between the work graduate employees do at B.C. and at other private universities such as Columbia University, whose landmark case restored rights for graduate employees to unionize in 2016. “We are thrilled about ...
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CHESTNUT HILL, Massachusetts—The Boston College Graduate Employees Union-United Auto Workers (BCGEU-UAW) today will deliver a petition for a union election with the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Boston. The filing follows the NLRB’s ruling in August that restored collective bargaining rights to graduate student workers, and is the result of two years of organizing by graduate employees at Boston College. “It’s a thrilling moment for us after so much hard work,” said Sriram Natarajan, a Ph.D. student in economics. “And it’s great news for international students like me, to have our voices strengthened by a ...
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Community Petition Urging University Administrators to End Their Anti-Union Campaign Gains Momentum NEW YORK – As support for graduate workers’ right to collective bargaining builds nationwide, more than 60 members of Congress today issued a statement urging Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and other university administrators in support of fair and free union elections. U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott and Jerrold Nadler along with dozens of other congressional leaders applauded the National Labor Relations Board’s recent decision to restore the rights of teaching assistants and research assistants to bargain collectively. “Collective bargaining between university administrators and the representatives chosen by TAs ...
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Graduate workers, who have been organizing for the past year, welcome recognition of needed changes from the Provost, Dean of Engineering NEW YORK – In a rare email to Ph.D. candidates, Columbia University Provost John H. Coatsworth announced a number of changes to improve workplace benefits for many graduate workers. The announcement – which includes parental leave, childcare subsidies and changes in fees – comes as graduate workers have been joining together to fight for respect and their rights as Graduate Workers of Columbia-UAW (GWC-UAW). The announcement answers calls for change the group has been raising and builds on previous ...
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