Posts tagged public university
Faculty, Grad Workers Left Out of Virginia’s Collective Bargaining Expansion
March 24, 2026 // There’s a big caveat to SB 378, though. The bill exempts several categories of public workers from collective bargaining rights, including judicial branch employees, General Assembly staff and public college and university workers, “except for service employees.” That means faculty and graduate student workers at state institutions will continue to lack the right to form officially recognized unions that colleges and universities must negotiate with.
Temple Union of Resident Assistants becomes first undergraduate, public university union in state
October 27, 2025 // The organization, comprised of 126 resident assistants and peer mentors from University Housing and Residential Life, has been pushing for union membership since Fall 2024. RAs and peer mentors began distributing union cards in August 2024. TURA was created to improve working conditions for RAs and peer mentors through fair compensation and consistent worker treatment. In previous years, RAs would receive 1,000 diamond dollars, free housing, an unlimited meal plan and a $200 tuition stipend. Diamond dollars became a defunct campus currency several years ago, and Temple never replaced the compensation. Returning RAs and PMs can only work 15 or 20 hours outside of their UHRL duties, while first years can only work 10 to 15 hours.
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.
College staff threaten to quit after administration orders them to return to office 5 days a week
May 29, 2025 // Georgia's public universities are now requiring staff to return to the office five days a week, causing backlash from employees who claim the mandate will cause additional problems. The University System of Georgia, which governs public university institutions in the state, announced at the start of the year that faculty must be present on campus during core business hours. Last month, USG's chancellor Dr. Sonny Perdue told presidents and administrators at a Board of Regents meeting, 'If that’s not what y’all want, you let me know, because that’s where we’re going,' the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Tennessee athletic director says collective bargaining with athletes the only solution amid chaos
May 23, 2025 // A federal judge is weighing final approval of a $2.8 billion NCAA antitrust settlement that will clear the way for schools like Tennessee to share as much as $20.5 million directly their athletes every year. Schools are also likely to be asked to fall in line with the settlement given the patchwork of state laws in many places intended to benefit flagship schools.
Cal State faculty start strike at largest US public university system
January 22, 2024 // “I have no interest in a strike. We are ready and willing to come back to the bargaining table with the California Faculty Association,” she said. “But we must work within our financial realities.” In contract negotiations earlier this month, the university agreed to 5 percent raises, which the union deemed inadequate. The university reached a labor agreement with its Teamsters union local over the weekend, which also prepared to strike. The strike follows a similar graduate student walkout at the University of California system in December 2022, which resulted in significant wage increases after 40 days of striking.
Michigan House bill would allow college athletes to unionize, at an unknown cost
June 22, 2023 // This bill aims to remove three specific exclusions under the Public Employment Relations Act, or PERA: Graduate student research assistants, Independent contractors who are classified as such according to an IRS test that involves 20 factors, and Student-athletes at Michigan's public universities. House Bill 4497 would remove those three exclusions, allowing all three groups to be recognized as public employees. They would be able to seek union representation and collective bargaining rights.
Ohio labor unions fight back against bill to ban strikes
May 30, 2023 // Bill sponsor state Sen. Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) wants to put a stop to this. "To hold the students hostage to getting the instruction that they have paid for in advance of the semester just seems to me [as] not putting the students first," Cirino said. Strikes paying families at the whim of educators and disadvantaged students just trying to learn, he added. "We have opportunities to negotiate on other bases without having to put the students' right to get the instruction they paid for any way at risk," the Republican said.