An organizing committee of graduate employees at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) voted this spring to affiliate with the New York State United Teachers and the AFT. The group, the Graduate Employees Association of Rensselaer (GEAR), will be seeking an election to represent some 500 graduate and teaching assistants on the private university campus. They are part of a wave of graduate employee organizations that have come before the National Labor Relations Board seeking to hold an election in the past year.

GEAR is fighting RPI's imposition of dramatic changes that will take a terrible bite out of the employees' finances. The worst: Graduate employees currently receive funding for the duration of their Ph.D. program--a period that can span five to 10 years. The institute wants to change the funding guarantee to two years, which would force many employees to find their own funding to complete their studies.

Other issues for GEAR include health insurance benefits, wide cross-departmental disparities in compensation, health and safety issues in some departments, and inadequate anti-discrimination and sexual harassment policies, says NYSUT field representative Megan O'Brien.

[May 3, 2002]