US Certifies Unions for 50,000 Student Workers

List of ways there could be a presidential election next week influence higher education long, with the Trump and Harris administrations will probably be different largely on issues such as student loans, accreditation, diversity and Title IX, to name a few.

Another less visible area that could also be changed is labor policy: former President Donald Trump’s second administration will likely take a very different approach regarding the National Labor Relations Board than the relative continuity that is likely to follow. if President Biden passes the baton. Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Monday, the NCRB released data that highlighted one possible way this problem can manifest itself. The federal agency said it has certified 54 call centers for more than 50,000 student employees since 2022. withdrawal of funds in 2021 from rule proposed by the Trump administration, which would make it much more difficult for graduate students at private colleges to form unions.

The Biden administration’s actions in 2021 not only responded to growing student interest in unionization, but also fueled it. Experts explained the pandemic and aggressive efforts by national labor unions to recruit members.

About half of the 54 certified unions the NLRB said it had certified since 2022 were for graduate student teachers and research assistants, the students most likely to historically join unions.

However, since April 2023, the number of unions certified for undergraduate students working in residential and food service settings (16) has actually exceeded the number of unions certified for graduate student faculty and research assistants (13), although the number of students involved is much smaller. Several unions have certified postdoctoral fellows.

These numbers could grow by thousands of students. The NLRB noted that elections are pending on union petitions at many other campuses: for 2,200 graduate student faculty at Vanderbilt University, for 1,300 undergraduate students at Berea College, and for 57 student cafeteria workers at Pomona College.

The most unusual union certified by the NLRB over the past few years was Dartmouth College men’s basketball team. Dartmouth refused to negotiate with the union and is still effectively blocked NLRB efforts make him do it.