Posts tagged teaching assistants
Stanford students back resident assistant unionization effort
May 20, 2026 // Stanford University in California has previously faced labor-related disputes involving student workers and campus employment policies. The debate over resident assistant unionization has also emerged at other universities in recent years. Some institutions have resisted recognizing undergraduate housing staff as employees eligible for collective bargaining, while organizers argue that universities increasingly rely on student labor to support campus operations.
Graduate fellows seek to unionize in unprecedented move
March 31, 2026 // The move appears to be the first of its kind at a private U.S. institution of higher education, something union organizers argue is made possible by a novel Rhode Island law passed in August that explicitly codifies the right of graduate student employees — including fellows not working as teaching or research assistants — to unionize. Graduate fellows are students who receive stipend funding unrelated to whether or not they officially work as research or teaching assistants. The University’s current contract with GLO includes only graduate student employees recognized by the National Labor Relations Board, many of whom are teaching or research assistants
Should RAs be included in the Penn State graduate student union? University files appeal
January 27, 2026 // The Coalition of Graduate Employees at Penn State worked for years for the roughly 5,000 graduate students to vote in a union election. Graduate students previously tried to unionize in 2017-18 but were unsuccessful. Other unionization efforts have also been in the works at Penn State, including for faculty. In December the Penn State Faculty Alliance filed a petition to hold a union election for Penn State faculty. Teamsters Local 8, a labor union representing technical service workers at every Penn State campus, is also seeking to significantly expand its membership by organizing some university workers who currently fall outside of its scope.
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August 7, 2025 // Anticipating a rollback of recent NLRB precedent, some unions have withdrawn petitions for recognition, looking for other paths to continue their work.
Labor’s Future After Wisconsin Anti-Union Law Struck Down
December 5, 2024 // For that reason, the law’s categories of general and public safety employees, and its public safety employee exemption, were unconstitutional, Frost wrote then. Frost reiterated that ruling Monday. “Act 10 as written by the Legislature specifically and narrowly defines ‘public safety employee,’” Frost wrote. “It is that definition which is unconstitutional.”
Stanford grad students postpone strike timed to hobble grading and advising ahead of finals
November 13, 2024 // “A strike will cause massive disruption to the university’s teaching and research missions,” the Stanford Graduate Workers Union said in a statement, noting that many seminars taught by graduate students will be paused indefinitely, as will other essential functions. “Teaching assistants will cancel their review and discussion sessions, office hours and labs. Assignments will not be graded.” The graduate students unionized a year ago but have yet to sign a contract with the university.
U.S. Has Certified Unions for 50,000 Student Employees
October 31, 2024 // National Labor Relations Board has approved dozens of bargaining units for housing and dining workers, in addition to teaching assistants. The NLRB released data Monday that underscored one way that could manifest itself. The federal agency said that it has certified 54 bargaining units for more than 50,000 student employees since 2022, in the wake of its 2021 withdrawal of a rule proposed by the Trump administration that would have made it much harder for graduate students on private college campuses to form unions.
OPINION Unionized academic workers go on strike, for what?
June 4, 2024 // The union, which states on its website that it “will not negotiate on behalf of encampment organizers,” has filed multiple complaints against the University of California with the state’s Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) since the beginning of May, when the university called in law enforcement to break down the “Palestine Solidarity Encampment” at UCLA. By then the initial 30 tents had grown into a massive, self-barricaded site that attracted angry counter-protesters in a violent overnight clash. The union’s complaint listed “workplace demands” that included the “right to opt out of participation in military-funded research,” and the “disclosure and divestment of University funds from Israel’s war effort.” The UAW local also complained that a new discipline policy of an “applicable review process” for employees who are arrested or cited was imposed without “notice or opportunity to bargain.” Further, the union wants the university to “make whole” any employees who were reported for criminal activity by paying their civil fines, attorney fees, bail and damage expenses.
UC student workers expand strike as they demand amnesty for protestors
May 31, 2024 // While the strike is technically distinct from the larger protest movement against the war, the two movements are related. Last Thursday, several hundred UCLA members of the UAW 4811 held a rally in support of their impending strike. Moments later, they joined a student-led protest demanding that the UC call for a ceasefire and divest from weapons manufacturers and the Israeli economy. That same day, protesters erected a short-lived encampment and temporarily took over a campus building before being pushed out by police. It was a clear sign that, despite hundreds of arrests in May, thousands of students, union members and some faculty remain passionate about their pro-Palestinian advocacy.
National Right to Work Foundation Issues Notice to University of California Graduate Students Amid UAW Strike Orders
May 21, 2024 // The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has released a special legal notice to graduate students, teaching assistants, and researchers across the University of California system. The notice comes as officials of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union have ordered a strike at UC Santa Cruz over the university’s position on the Israel-Hamas conflict and related campus protests.