After only seven months of campaigning, the overwhelming majority of graduate student employees at NYU have joined the union, GSOC, an affiliate of the the UAW. On April 23rd, in the presence of city and federal politicians, they asked NYU administrators to recognize the union and their right to bargain with the university. Over 100 full-time faculty in 28 different departments signed a petition asking NYU to recognize GSOC. In NYU's response, received yesterday, the University declined to recognize the union and indicated that it will challenge GSOC-UAW's right to collective bargain. Today, GSOC members officially filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board. In doing so, they became the first graduate student union at a private U.S. college in the United States to file for a union election with the NLRB. In the meantime, GSOC is pursuing alternative legal means to persuade NYU to recognize the union. Another big step forward for the graduate employee labor movement!
Andrew Ross Director, American Studies Program New York University 285 Mercer St. 8th Flr. New York, NY 10003
Tel: 212-998-8538 Fax: 212-995-4371 andrew.ross at nyu.edu ar4 at is.nyu.edu