Posts tagged graduate students
Union accused of forcing Jewish students at MIT, Stanford, and Cornell to fund pro-Hamas agenda
August 12, 2025 // At MIT, following the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, the UE affiliate supported campus protests favoring Hamas, the letter states. Five Jewish graduate students requested religious accommodations to avoid paying dues to the union, citing conflicts with their faith. UE General Secretary-Treasurer Andrew Dinkelaker reportedly denied the requests, saying, “no principles, teachings, or tenets of Judaism prohibit membership in or the payment of dues or fees to a labor union.” At Stanford, three graduate students faced similar challenges. Their requests for accommodations were met with what the letter calls an “abusive” questionnaire, which the union dropped after legal pressure.
Under Trump, Student Labor Organizers Face New Challenges
August 7, 2025 // Anticipating a rollback of recent NLRB precedent, some unions have withdrawn petitions for recognition, looking for other paths to continue their work.
Commentary: Ivy Leaguers Aren’t Auto Workers
July 21, 2025 // In general, NLRB decisions are fake law made by fake judges who have to interpret a poorly written statute from 90 years ago that is based on assumptions about industrial organization that no longer obtain in the United States. But the NLRB remains powerful nonetheless, and its decisions matter. That’s why Russell Burgett, a doctoral candidate at Cornell University, which is private, is asking the NLRB to overturn the 2016 Columbia ruling. He isn’t a member of the Cornell graduate students’ union, a UE affiliate, and he said in charges filed with the NLRB on Monday that his choice not to join makes it harder for him to complete his education.
Cornell University Graduate Student Files Federal Charges Seeking End to Union Boss Control Over Graduate Students
July 14, 2025 // Student case attacks Obama-era federal labor board ruling that exposed graduate students to union boss power
Cornell Univ. Graduate Students Hit UE and GSU Unions with Discrimination Charges for Harassing Religious Objectors to Compulsory Unionism
June 20, 2025 // As their charges explain, rather than comply with their valid requests for religious accommodations, UE union bosses instead sent “questionnaires” containing invasive and legally irrelevant questions to religious objectors. The questionnaires include intrusive demands like, “[P]lease include the name and address of the organization sponsoring the [religious] services you attend and the name of the faith leader(s),” and “How long have you had your religious belief?” The end of the questionnaire indicates that union officials may not even respect a student’s religious objection after completion of the form, stating ominously that “The UE national union will review your religious objection upon receipt and may have follow-up questions” (emphasis added).
U-M threatened pro-Palestinian students, union alleges
June 19, 2025 // On April 21, 2024, the Graduate Employees’ Organization filed a class action grievance against U-M. It accused then-President Santa Ono of “threatening students” by stating that U-M “will not shy away from protecting the values we hold dear. Those who participate in disruptive activity will be held accountable.” The GEO criticized the U-M administration for having “contributed to a climate of hostility, harassment, and repression on Palestine-related issues for members of the bargaining unit.” More than 100 undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, alumni, and others signed the document with redacted names. CapCon obtained the documents through a records request. The student union demanded that the university tell all staff members in written communication that there is an ongoing genocide in Palestine. It also said the university must acknowledge the right of graduate student instructors to engage in pro-Palestine speech in the classroom. The university, it added, needed to ”recognize that pro-Palestine speech is legitimate."
Higher ed is seeing a surge in unionizing efforts. Nazareth staffers are the latest to vote ‘Yes’
May 22, 2025 // Unionizing efforts on higher education campuses have been rising nationwide. Among graduate student-employees, union membership more than doubled between 2012 and 2024, and faculty unions have steadily increased in that same timeframe, according to the National Education Association.
U Rochester Ph.D. Student Workers Strike for an Election Without the NLRB
April 27, 2025 // University of Rochester Ph.D. student workers began striking this week to pressure the institution to agree to what they call a “fair union election.” And for the process to be fair, they say, it can’t be handled by the Trump-era National Labor Relations Board. “We don’t see any kind of path through the NLRB at present,” said George Elkind, a Ph.D. student on the proposed UR Graduate Labor Union’s organizing committee.
UR graduate student workers hold informational picket ahead of strike
April 17, 2025 // If the university doesn’t agree to hold an election, union organizers would need to ask the National Labor Relations Board to organize one. Organizers say a Trump-era NLRB would be unlikely to grant an election agreement because, during President Trump’s first term, he sought to exclude student workers from unionizing. If Trump fills the three vacant positions on the five-member NLRB, it would have a conservative majority. The university says entering a private election agreement would be unprecedented for the campus. According to UR administration, all current unions on campus became official after asking the NLRB for an election, rather than asking the university directly.
Harvard Grad Union Agrees To Bargain Without Ground Rules
April 2, 2025 // Without formal policies, the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers has not ruled out bringing rank-and-file members to sessions. But the decision to forgo basic bargaining policies also sets the stage for an even more contentious set of negotiations than for the union’s two previous contracts, which were both negotiated with ground rules and both resulted in a strike. “We are planning on having our bargaining team present at the sessions,” bargaining committee member Alexis R. Miranda said. “Anything else beyond that, we’re not sure at this point.”