Green Light for Student Employee Unions
The National Labor Relations Board on Friday reversed course once again on graduate assistant unions at private institutions, signaling support for these kinds of bargaining units. In its surprise
announcement, the board said it would formally withdraw a Trump-era proposed rule regarding graduate and undergraduate student workers. That rule, to be withdrawn today, would have declared students who are financially compensated in connection with their studies nonemployees under the National Labor Relations Act and therefore exempt from NLRB oversight. Under such a rule, with no legal recourse before the NLRB, student unions would have been wholly dependent on their administrations to recognize them voluntarily. Many institutions continue to argue that student workers are students, not employees entitled to collective bargaining rights. Student assistant union rights at public institutions are governed by state law. (
Inside Higher Ed - Mar. 15, 2021)