Graduate Student Union Representation

A union is an organization that serves as the exclusive bargaining representative of a defined group of employees for purposes of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment, such as pay, benefits and working conditions. The negotiation process is known as “collective bargaining.” The “bargaining unit” is the group of employees that the union represents. If a union is elected to be the exclusive bargaining representative for a bargaining unit, negotiations regarding terms and conditions of employment—for example as related to compensation, benefits, time off and more—must be solely between the employer and the union, not between the employer and individual employees.

The NLRA is the foundational federal labor law for private sector employees and employers that sets forth the rights of employees, unions and employers in, among other things, bargaining, representation elections and protected concerted activity.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the NLRA. The NLRB is comprised of a five-member board and is overseen by a general counsel, all of whom are appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

A private election agreement is an agreement between an employer and a group seeking to unionize that sets the terms of the union campaign and election. It delegates oversight authority over the process and any election to a private arbitrator and the American Arbitration Association. You can view a copy of the private election agreement between Syracuse University, SGEU and SEIU here.

There are several steps to forming a union. Typically, it begins with union organizers seeking to collect authorization cards from potential bargaining unit members, i.e., the group of graduate students the union seeks to represent. If the union organizers collect signed authorization cards from at least 30% of the potential bargaining unit members, they can file a petition to hold an election as to whether they should be the union representing the University’s graduate students. According to the private election agreement reached between graduate student organizers and the University, the organizers agreed to file an election petition with a jointly selected private arbitrator, as opposed to the NLRB. Upon receipt of the petition and authorization cards, the arbitrator will confirm an election is warranted. The outcome of an election would be determined by a simple majority of votes cast. For example, if only 100 out of 500 eligible students vote, 51 voters would determine the outcome for all 500 students in the bargaining unit, as well as future students. This means it is very important for all eligible graduate students to participate in the election.

An authorization card is a legally binding document that indicates the signer supports holding a union election and authorizes the union to be the card signer’s exclusive representative for the purposes of negotiating the terms and conditions of the signer’s employment.

Under the private election agreement, the election will be a secret-ballot election conducted and supervised by representatives of the American Arbitration Association. The election will occur on the University’s campus in Syracuse, New York, over an agreed upon two-day period. Voting will occur at the JMA Wireless Dome. Each eligible voter is free to vote however they want in the election, regardless of whether the voter has previously signed an authorization card.

Only those graduate students who are classified as members of the potential bargaining unit. Under the private election agreement, eligible voters would include Graduate Assistants who are part of the unit and performing services during the semester in which the election is held. The proposed unit is defined as:

• All University Ph.D. students who are: (i) matriculated in a doctoral degree program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, School of Education, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, School of Information Studies, or College of Engineering and Computer Science; (ii) awarded a stipend and a condition of receiving the stipend is the performance of research, instructional, or other specialty services that are related to the student’s academic program as duly appointed Teaching Assistants (“TA”), Research Assistants (“RA”), or Graduate Administrative Assistants through the Graduate School (collectively “Ph.D. Academic Graduate Assistants”).
• All University master’s students who are: (i) matriculated in a master’s degree program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Education, School of Architecture, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, School of Information Studies, or College of Engineering and Computer Science; (ii) awarded a stipend and a condition of receiving the stipend is the performance of that in certain semesters these master’s students will provide research, instructional, or other specialty services that are related to the student’s academic program as duly appointed Teaching Assistants (“TA”), Research Assistants (“RA”), or Graduate Administrative Assistants through the Graduate School (collectively “Masters Academic Graduate Assistants.”).
• Ph.D. and master’s academic graduate assistants (collectively, “Graduate Assistants”) will be included in the unit only during those semesters in which the student is a duly appointed Graduate Assistant holding at least a 10-hour per week appointment.

 Excluded from the bargaining unit are: fellows; Ph.D. students receiving an institutional training grant from external funding agencies; students who are compensated on an hourly basis; all undergraduate students; all other faculty; supervisors, managerial employees, office clerical employees, confidential employees; and all other employees.

Although students cannot be forced to join a union (more on that below), any who fall within the classification as a member of the proposed bargaining unit would be bound by the results of an election and subject to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by a union. This is true even if students abstain from voting in an election or choose not to join the union after a successful election. This also applies to future students who will not have a chance to vote.

Some graduate assistants at other private institutions are unionized and operating pursuant to a collective bargaining agreement. Some public universities also recognize such unions, but the many laws governing public entities have provisions written into their labor laws provisions that expressly exempt academic decisions of universities from topics that are appropriate for collective bargaining. These specific protections in the state laws prevent unions from interfering in academic matters at public universities. Federal labor law is not tailored to address the needs of higher education, and so these protections are not currently included in federal law.

In addition, graduate students fill different roles at private universities than they do at public universities. At private universities such as Syracuse University, teaching and research are viewed as an integral part of the educational experience.

Unions primary source of revenues is collecting dues from members. Unions charge dues to their members to fund the operations of the union. Dues can range in amount. Each union establishes its own dues formula, but they are typically around 2% of the students’ total compensation per semester. Unions may also charge an initiation fee to join.

Graduate students who choose not to join the union would not have to pay dues, but they may have to pay agency fees. Under federal law, if provided for in a collective bargaining agreement, a union can compel members of a bargaining unit either to become dues-paying union members or to pay the union an agency or representation fee. Agency fees are used to pay for the costs associated with union operations such as collective bargaining and contract administration. Agency fee amounts are set by the union, but are typically equivalent to the amount of union dues.

Collective bargaining is the term used to describe the negotiation process between an employer and a union to reach an agreement on the bargaining unit’s terms and conditions employment. Matters subject to collective bargaining include wages, hours, working conditions and procedures for dispute resolution, along with other topics.

A collective bargaining agreement is a legally binding contract between an employer and a union that memorializes the terms and conditions of employment negotiated through collective bargaining.

Yes. The University has a collaborative relationship with the four unions that represent approximately 1,400 University employees. For more information on the unions at the University, visit the Human Resources labor relations website.

The University respects the important role of labor unions in our workplace. Syracuse University will not take a formal position during this process, other than to support all our graduate students in their exploration of the issues involved.

Under the private election agreement, the proposed unit would include:

• All University Ph.D. students who are: (i) matriculated in a doctoral degree program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, School of Education, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, School of Information Studies, or College of Engineering and Computer Science; (ii) awarded a stipend and a condition of receiving the stipend is the performance of research, instructional, or other specialty services that are related to the student’s academic program as duly appointed Teaching Assistants (“TA”), Research Assistants (“RA”), or Graduate Administrative Assistants through the Graduate School (collectively “Ph.D. Academic Graduate Assistants”).
• All University master’s students who are: (i) matriculated in a master’s degree program in the College of Arts and Sciences, Whitman School of Management, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, College of Visual and Performing Arts, School of Education, School of Architecture, Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, School of Information Studies, or College of Engineering and Computer Science; (ii) awarded a stipend and a condition of receiving the stipend is the performance of that in certain semesters these master’s students will provide research, instructional, or other specialty services that are related to the student’s academic program as duly appointed Teaching Assistants (“TA”), Research Assistants (“RA”), or Graduate Administrative Assistants through the Graduate School (collectively “Masters Academic Graduate Assistants.”).
• Ph.D. and master’s Academic Graduate Assistants (collectively, “Graduate Assistants”) will be included in the unit only during those semesters in which the student is a duly appointed Graduate Assistant holding at least a 10-hour per week appointment.

Excluded from the bargaining unit are: fellows; Ph.D. students receiving an institutional training grant from external funding agencies; students who are compensated on an hourly basis; all undergraduate students; all other faculty; supervisors, managerial employees, office clerical employees, confidential employees and all other employees.

Graduate students who are among the group comprising the potential bargaining unit (defined above) would all be represented by the union if it won an election and would be bound by a collective bargaining agreement, regardless of whether those students choose to join the union or not. Under federal law, individuals cannot be forced to join a union. However, a union may include a provision in its collective bargaining agreement that would require non-members to pay what’s known as an agency fee to the union in order to continue serving as a research or teaching assistant. The agency fee is typically in the range of the union dues.

A union would be the exclusive voice to the University for all students it represents on terms and conditions of employment—issues such as pay, work hours and other matters related to their work.

The University and the GSO have a shared history of engagement and collaboration, as demonstrated by a governance structure in which graduate students participate in the decision-making process at an institutional level. We value this relationship with the GSO, and are concerned how working through a non-academic third party (i.e., SEIU, a national Union SGEU is affiliated with) could affect future engagement and collaboration. In some circumstances, federal law prohibits the university from setting up advisory committees with graduate student members without union consent.

No draft or proposed collective bargaining agreement will be developed unless or until eligible students vote on whether they want to be represented by a union. If the potential bargaining unit members vote in favor of a union—by a majority of those voting, not a majority of the total eligible bargaining unit members—and the union is certified, the union and the University could then begin negotiating the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. All students classified as members of the bargaining unit, whether or not they voted in favor of the union, would be subject to and bound by the terms of the finalized collective bargaining agreement.

It is not possible to predict how collective bargaining would impact the quantity or quality of stipends or benefits.

If graduate students elect to be represented by a union, the union would become the exclusive voice for students in the bargaining unit on all issues related to the terms and conditions of the students’ graduate assistantships. A collective bargaining agreement would set the terms and conditions for all members of the bargaining unit, thus preventing individual graduate students from negotiating special arrangements related to their terms or conditions of employment directly with their respective faculty supervisors.

It is not clear how unionizing might affect off-site research activities such as conferences, field trips, or remote research. To the extent such activities are part of a graduate assistantship position, for example, funding, covered travel and other aspects of such activities may be subject to negotiation with the union.

If graduate students do not vote to unionize, we will continue to engage in productive dialogue and partnership with the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) to advance the priorities of our graduate student community.