Unionize Grad Centers
CUNY Researchers Now PSC Members

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

Research Assistants employed by the Research Foundation at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York last week walked into work as union members, 2-1/2 years after casting their ballots.

BARBARA BOWEN: Angry even after victory.

The long-awaited vote count was finally permitted after a series of legal challenges by management. About 82 percent of the staff - which works in a variety of titles, some clerical - voted to join the Professional Staff Congress. The victory could galvanize organizing efforts at Research Foundation sites on the 20 CUNY campuses where about 5,000 employees have no union representation.

PSC: Delays 'Outrageous'

Union officials were pleased with the result but were frustrated by the delays.

"It's outrageous that CUNY's Research Foundation spent years denying union representation to these employees," said PSC President Barbara Bowen. "They did everything they could, even preventing getting the ballots opened, which goes against every academic tradition."

The union first filed for an election in 2003 but was not able to hold the vote until March 2005. After the election was held, RF management challenged whether 113 of the 200 employees were eligible to join the union because they were also graduate students. In 2004, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students at Brown University did not have the right to unionize, classifying them as students, not workers.

MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN: Faces further battles.

In the RF case, the NLRB ruled in June that being graduate students was not relevant to their status as employees.

Ready to Negotiate

"I think this shows that CUNY's Research Foundation, which boasts about its academic mission, is at the extreme end of anti-unionism," said Ms. Bowen. "Even the George Bush labor board voted unanimously that they had the right to unionize."

A spokesperson for the Research Foundation said that the PSC's original petition to represent the workers had raised "a number of serious issues concerning the scope and composition of the bargaining unit, as well as the eligibility of certain individuals, including CUNY graduate students employed by the Foundation."

Nonetheless, the RF is planning on moving forward with negotiations. "Although the Foundation believes that a number of important issues, including voter eligibility questions, remain unresolved or were incorrectly decided by the NLRB," the spokesperson wrote in an e-mail, 'it has determined not to appeal the decision."

RF officials did not respond to questions about how much money was spent on the four-year legal battle with the PSC or how they got the money to launch the legal fight.

The Research Foundation is funded through academic grants obtained primarily by CUNY departments and faculty members. It provides administrative support and research assistance for professors.

A Separate Entity

CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein is the Chairman of the RF board and several CUNY college presidents are also members of the board, but the NLRB previously ruled that the RF is a separate, private entity. That ruling meant that the workers there are governed by Federal private-sector labor law, unlike CUNY employees who are public sector employees.

The PSC represents workers at three other RF locations: the central office on West 41st St. where it has a contract, and at New York City College of Technology and LaGuardia Community College, which are both in the midst of contract negotiations.

PSC officials are now in the process of developing bargaining demands for the Graduate Center site.