In a decision passed down today, the NLRB has affirmed that the graduate students of NYU are employees, entitled to union representation and collective bargaining. These rights have been established in the public sector for many years, but this is the first graduate student organization in the private sector to win the right to unionization, and thereby sets a legal precedent for all private universities. The struggle is not won yet. It is almost certain that the university administration will appeal, and the case will then go much further than the regional NLRB court. But this is a great victory, and only good can come of it.
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