In a sweeping decision, the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board upheld the rights of 600 teaching and research assistants at Temple University to form a union and negotiate a contract. The university had argued that teaching assistants and research assistants are not workers and not protected by state labor law.

In its decision, the board found that "graduate assistants are employees within the meaning of the Public Employee Relations Act and may properly exercise collective bargaining rights in relation to wages, hours and working conditions."

The PLRB decision is good news for graduate employees who return to work with the opening of school on Aug. 27. Graduate employees conduct one-third of undergraduate instruction at Temple.

"If Temple's administrators really care about the work that we do--if they really care about undergraduate education--then they need to negotiate a fair contract with us—now," said Kim Rothwell, a teaching assistant in Communications Sciences.

The board's order states that Temple's lawyers "failed to show…that the extension of collective bargaining rights to graduate assistants such as those at issue in this case will or has in any way infringed upon an institution's ability to carry out its core education mission."

The board also noted that Temple has maintained a long-standing bargaining relationship with its full-time faculty union and that having collective bargaining on campus has not interfered with academic freedom. Furthermore, the order notes that the National Labor Relations Board last October ruled that graduate employees are workers, a finding that has also been reached by virtually every jurisdiction in the country that has examined the issue.

"It's a very strongly-worded decision," said Rob Callahan, the lead organizer for Temple's graduate employee union. "From a legal standpoint you can say it's a knockout blow. Ultimately, this fight won't be settled in the courts, it will be settled on campus. Whatever arguments the lawyers might concoct, the truth of the matter is we're teaching the students here and the university couldn't work without us."

The decision follows a vote in March, when Temple's graduate employees voted by a staggering 290-16 margin to be represented by TUGSA, the Temple University Graduate Students' Association, an affiliate of the AFT.

In addition to Temple, AFT currently has graduate employee organizing campaigns under way at Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania. [AFT press release/Jamie Horwitz]

August 24, 2001