New AFT Report Calls for Better Treatment
of University Graduate and Research Assistants Across the Country

Report Released at Columbus News Conference Where Graduate Employees
Announce Plans to Organize a Union at Ohio State University

Graduate Employees from Campuses Nationwide Journey
to OSU to Assist in Organizing Effort

Columbus, Ohio—The American Federation of Teachers today released a report,
Recognition and Respect: Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Graduate Employees, which outlines a coordinated program to improve the financial and professional circumstances of graduate employees. The report, available at http://www.aft.org/
pubs-reports/higher_ed/grad_employee_standards.pdf, offers suggestions on issues such as setting standards for compensation, establishing fair employment practices, promoting standards of professional responsibility and ensuring full rights for graduate employees in their union.

"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 Lawrence 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.

Many graduate employees have formed unions to correct these poor conditions. Other Big Ten schools, such as the University of Wisconsin and the University of Michigan, have had graduate employee unions for more than three decades. In the past three years, graduate employees at Michigan State and the University of Illinois have organized AFT local unions and negotiated contracts with their universities. These unions have negotiated improved wages, health benefits, programs for professional development and in some instances child care benefits.

Graduate employees at private universities were delivered a setback this summer when the National Labor Relations Board reversed an earlier ruling granting TAs and RAs employed at private institutions the right to join a union.

"We need to set benchmarks for the fair treatment of all graduate employees, whether they are members of our union or not. That’s why we are releasing this report," said Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation Teachers which is helping Ohio State’s Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO). "Ohio State likes to be competitive with other major universities, especially those in the Big Ten. OSU should recognize the value of its grad employees by offering competitive compensation," added Mooney.

Recently, GESO, which is affiliated with the AFT, gathered 1,800 signatures on a petition calling for the university to fully subsidize healthcare costs. The university has since agreed to improve health benefits for 4,000 teaching and research assistants, but grad employees still lack a binding contract. At a news conference this morning on the west lawn of the Ohio Union (the student center at 1739 N. High St.), GESO announced that it launched a card drive at the university to gather support for union recognition.

"Graduate assistants really help the university succeed, but our wages won’t cover the cost of rent, food, books, car, school supplies and other living expenses," said Jessica Lucas, a GESO member and teaching assistant in plant biology at OSU.

About three dozen graduate employees from as far away as the University of Oregon traveled to Columbus for today’s announcement and to help GESO organize.

The American Federation of Teachers represents more than 150,000 college and university faculty, including 16,000 graduate employees at major universities, among them the universities of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Florida, Kansas, South Florida, Oregon, Michigan State, Temple, Wayne State and the City University of New York.

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