Graduate Students Are Not Employees, Proposed Rule Says

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — the federal agency that enforces U.S. labor laws — has proposed a new rule stating that graduate students are not “employees” with a right to unionize. If implemented, the proposed rule would weaken recent unionization efforts by graduate students at private universities. The NLRB does not have jurisdiction over public universities, where graduate students are allowed to form unions when permitted by state law. The proposed regulation would establish that “students who perform any services for compensation, including, but not limited to, teaching or research, at a private college or university in connection with their studies are not ‘employees’ within the meaning of Section 2(3) of the [National Labor Relations Act (Act)].” According to the NLRB, this proposed standard is “consistent with the purposes and policies of the Act, which contemplates jurisdiction over economic relationships, not those that are primarily educational in nature.” Science Insider reported that NLRB previously made decisions about graduate student unions on a case-by-case basis. In 2016, the NLRB ruled that graduate students conducting research and teaching at Columbia University could be considered employees with a right to unionize, after deciding in 2004 that students at Brown University did not have the right to unionize. In 2000, they had ruled that graduate students at New York University c...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news