An AFT report released this month calls for a coordinated program to improve the financial and professional circumstances of graduate employees working at institutions of higher education across the country.

Recognition and Respect: Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Graduate Employees offers suggestions on compensation, fair employment practices, professional responsibility and rights for graduate employees in their union. The report was released Oct. 8 at a Columbus, Ohio, news conference where graduate employees announced plans to organize a union at Ohio State University.

"Universities treat graduate employees like teachers and researchers when there is work to be done and as second-class citizens when it comes to compensation and fair treatment," said AFT's director of higher education Larry Gold.

The AFT represents more college and university faculty than any other union and was the first to organize graduate employees.

At Ohio State University (OSU) and campuses across the country, universities are increasingly relying on graduate employees--teaching and research assistants--to teach classes and conduct research previously reserved for regular faculty. Between 1993 and 2001, the number of teaching and research assistants employed by universities increased by 29 percent, and today more than 260,000 graduate employees are engaged in classroom and laboratory instruction.

Despite added responsibilities, stipends for graduate employees remain extremely low; about one-third receive health benefits. Support for graduate employees new to teaching and for international graduate employees new to the United States is also weak. A study by the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students found that 45 percent of graduate employees believe they were not provided with the necessary training required for teaching undergraduates.

The report is available online at http://www.aft.org/pubs-reports/higher_ed/grad_employee_standards.pdf. [Jamie Horwitz/AFT press release]

October 8, 2004