Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 381, March 2017

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 33. The Committee last examined this case – which concerns a decision of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) denying graduate teaching and research assistants at private universities the right, under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), to engage in organizing or collective bargaining – at its October 2014 meeting [see 373rd Report, paras 17–20]. On that occasion, the Committee noted with interest that there were significant developments on this matter before the NLRB (possible application of the NLRA to student athletes and reconsideration of the decision in Brown University), the agreement reached between the Graduate Student Organizing Committee/United Auto Workers (GSOC/UAW) and New York University (NYU) to bargain in good faith and the ensuing determination of the representative union through a representation election. The Committee requested the Government to continue to keep it informed of developments as regards the NLRB’s reconsideration of the decision in Brown University and in relation to the progress made under the GSOC/UAW agreement with NYU.
2. 34. In its communication dated 17 January 2017, the Government indicates that on 23 August 2016, the NLRB issued a decision in Columbia University (02-RC-143012) whereby it held that student assistants working at private colleges and universities were statutory employees covered by the NLRA (the authority to define the term “employee” rests primarily with the NLRB absent an exception enumerated within the NLRA). The case dealt with an election petition filed in December 2014 by the Graduate Workers of Columbia-GWC, UAW, which sought to represent both graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants, along with graduate and departmental research assistants at the university. Since the NLRA contains no clear language prohibiting student assistants from its coverage, the NLRB majority found no compelling reason to exclude student assistants from the protections of the Act. The NLRB thus reversed the decision in Brown University stating that it deprived an entire category of workers of the protections of the Act without a convincing justification.
3. 35. The Committee notes with satisfaction the decision in Columbia University by which the NLRB overruled the decision in Brown University and held that student assistants working at private colleges and universities were statutory employees within the meaning of section 2(3) of the NLRA permitting them to seek union representation and engage in collective bargaining. In these circumstances, the Committee will not pursue its examination of the case.