Here at GESO, we've just heard some wonderful news from the NLRB in Washington: they've remanded our Unfair Labor Practice case back to trial in New Haven! This is, quite frankly, the Yale Administration's worst nightmare.
The NLRB has ruled on two separate issues:
#1: they agreed with Yale that the 'grade strike' was not a protected job action, because it was only a 'partial strike' (i.e. graduate teachers did some grading while withholding other parts of their labor) BUT
#2: they ruled, against Yale, that the NLRB's General Counsel had presented a prima facie case demonstrating that Yale faculty had infringed on the rights of graduate teachers. Specifically, they pointed to four instances where faculty had made "overbroad" threats -- i.e. where faculty had said that graduate teachers had no right to engage in job actions, and had stated that they would punish any graduate teacher who did so (i.e. through letters in their file, suspension from teaching, etc.)
Now the trial will resume in New Haven.
A press release follows.
Best, Scott Saul GESO at Yale
----------------------------------------- Yale Slammed by Labor Board Federal Government Rules in Favor of Graduate Teachers
*** November 29, 1999 ***
Today the National Labor Relations Board answered the big question in the union debate at Yale--Does labor law apply to graduate teachers?--with a resounding "yes."
In a precedent-setting legal decision, the NLRB reversed the decision of the Administrative Law Judge in the hearings over the unfair labor practices committed by Yale faculty and administrators during the January 1996 strike for recognition by the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO).
The Board decided that Yale faculty had made "overbroad threats" to graduate teachers and ordered the judge to re-open hearings in New Haven. Yale University and its faculty will now have to defend their actions in formal hearings where they will be cross-examined by lawyers for the General Counsel of the NLRB.
Although the NLRB supported the ALJ's decision that the grade-strike had been a "partial strike" and therefore not a protected activity under the National Labor Relations Act, in the above instances, the Board ruled that the actions by the faculty constituted "overbroad threats" that went beyond the activity of the grade strike and was calculated to discourage any union activity.
Today's ruling makes it clear that these kinds of threats are illegal. Antony Dugdale, an organizer for GESO from the Philosophy department, said: "I cannot imagine a better ruling for GESO. The NLRB has made it very clear that any threats from our faculty for union activity are unacceptable. Our rights are protected under the law."
------------------------ Scott Saul American Studies Dept. Yale University (203) 776-1178