National Public Radio (NPR) July 16, 2004 Friday

National Public Radio (NPR) July 16, 2004 Friday
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SHOW: Day to Day (4:00 PM ET) - NPR  July 16, 2004 Friday
HEADLINE: National Labor Relations Board rules that graduate students do not have the right to unionize
ANCHORS: MADELEINE BRAND
REPORTERS: TESS VIGELAND
BODY:
MADELEINE BRAND, host:I'm Madeleine Brand in Los Angeles, and this is DAY TO DAY.Graduate students do not have the right to unionize. That from the National Labor Relations Board. Four years ago, the board said grad students could form unions. So here to discuss this reversal is Tess Vigeland. She joins us from the "Marketplace" newsroom in Los Angeles. Tess, did the NLRB just simply change its mind?
TESS VIGELAND reporting:Yeah, pretty much, Madeleine. But there's a fairly transparent reason for this. In 2000, when the original ruling was issued, the board was made up of two Democrats and one Republican. There were two empty seats at the time. Now the board has three Republicans appointed by President Bush and two Democrats.The original ruling, which was unanimous, by the way, involved 1,500 graduate students at New York University. They had petitioned to be able to unionize because, in essence, they said they worked just like any other employee, whether as teaching assistants or researchers. They were paid and, therefore, they should have the option to organize. This case that overturned that ruling involved about 450 grad students at Brown who wanted to join the UAW.
BRAND: And so what's been the reaction from grad students? I imagine they're not too pleased.
VIGELAND: Oh, not too pleased at all. They're actually were some that were able to unionize over the last four years. The biggest one was at NYU. The university went ahead and recognized the union, and it bargained a first contract with them. The universities themselves today, including NYU and Brown, have said they're very gratified by this reversal.On the other hand, I talked with Kate Bronfenbrenner, who's the director of labor education research at Cornell. She says teaching assistants there are gravely disappointed.
Ms. KATE BRONFENBRENNER (Director of Labor Education Research, Cornell University): The decision four years ago represented a recognition of the evolution of the nature of the work that graduate students do, that graduate students now do the work of the university. They teach classes; they do research. This is how they earn their living while they go to school. With this decision, basically they end up being, you know, what you consider slave labor.
VIGELAND: At Cornell, the grad students actually didn't get enough votes to form or join a union.
BRAND: Those are private universities you talked about.
VIGELAND: Mm-hmm.
BRAND: What about public universities? Do they have different rules?
VIGELAND: They do. Because government employees--federal, state and local--they aren't covered by the National Labor Relations Board. The definition of employee is different, and the rules on unionizing are basically made state by state. For example, in New York, the SUNY College system there, here in California, the UC system, teaching assistants and researchers can organize. But in several other states, they are not allowed to. And, again, they are not subject to the NLRB.And today in the "Marketplace" newsroom, we're looking into the intersection of ink and commerce; the big business of tattoos.
BRAND: Tess Vigeland, of public radio's daily business show "Marketplace," joins us regularly at this time for discussions about money and business. And "Marketplace" is produced by American Public Media.Thanks, Tess.
VIGELAND: Thank you, Madeleine.