AAUP supports right of graduate students and part-time employees to unionize

THE AAUP COUNCIL VOTED UNANImously on November 15 to support the right of graduate students and part-time employees to choose to join unions and engage in collective bargaining.

"The major organization that defines the principles of academic life is now solidly behind the right to self-- determination for all professionals in the academic workplace," said Council member Cary Nelson, professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and author of the motion. The resolution reads as follows:

The national Council of the American Association of University Professors hereby affirms the right of all groups of employees at public and private colleges and universities to decide for themselves whether to negotiate their salaries, benefits, and working conditions. We believe all groups of employees have the right to bargain collectively by way of union representation if they so choose. As the Association comments in its 1984 Statement on Collective Bargaining, "faculties at both public and private institutions are entitled, as professionals, to choose by an election or comparable informal means to engage in collective bargaining." This resolution extends this principle to include graduate students, part-time employees, postdoctoral fellows, adjunct faculty, and academic professionals who perform instructional, administrative, or research services for compensation.

The AAUP's affirmation of support comes at a time when graduate students throughout the country are attempting to gain recognition of their right to bargain. Colleges and universities have become increasingly reliant upon graduate-student employees to fill the part-time positions that now make up close to half of all academic faculty appointments. The distinction between graduate student and faculty member becomes blurred when many graduate-- student teaching assistants are employed as part-time faculty members. Graduate-student leaders assert that their colleagues are exploited by administrations that demand increased responsibilities while refusing to adjust compensation. Further, graduate teaching assistants, like most part-time faculty, are rarely provided with basic benefits. Graduate-student teaching and research assistants have traditionally taught sections of courses as part of their professional training, but now they are increasingly called on to perform primary teaching and research work in the university.

The AAUP has long supported the right of individual chapters to engage in faculty collective bargaining. The AAUP views faculty collective bargaining as a means to advance professional standards and seeks collective bargaining contracts between faculty members and their administrations that are designed to protect academic freedom and tenure, promote economic and professional interests, and support collegial governance.

Copyright American Association of University Professors Jan/Feb 1999
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