Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 373, October 2014

Case No 2547 (United States of America) - Complaint date: 26-FEB-07 - Closed

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

1. 17. 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 March 2014 meeting [see 371st Report, paras 54–58]. On that occasion, the Committee welcomed the information of a joint statement between New York University (NYU) and the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America International Union (UAW), in which the parties indicate that they had reached a voluntary agreement to bargain in good faith. The Committee noted, however, that the decision of the NLRB in Brown University still excluded graduate students from collective bargaining rights set out in the NLRA and requested the Government to continue to provide information on any additional steps taken or envisaged to ensure that graduate teaching and research assistants, in their capacity as workers, are not excluded from the protection of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
2. 18. In its communication dated 28 August 2014, the Government reiterates previous reports concerning the NLRB reversal of a Regional Director’s dismissal of a petition filed by the Graduate Student Organizing Committee/United Auto Workers (GSOC/UAW) seeking a representation election for 1,800 graduate teaching and research assistants at NYU stating that there were “compelling reasons for reconsideration of the decision in Brown”, and remanding the case to the Regional Director for a hearing and development of a “full evidentiary record”. On 22 June 2012, the Board granted a review in NYU and in a similar case, Polytechnic Institute of New York University and the UAW, 29-RC-12054 (2012). In the agreement reached by the GSOC/UAW and NYU, it was also agreed that the union would withdraw its request for NLRB review of Brown University. On 11 December 2013, NYU graduate teaching and research assistants elected GSOC/UAW as their representative 620-10. To date, the parties have not negotiated a contract.
3. 19. The Government adds that challenges to the holding in Brown University continue. On 26 March 2014, the NLRB Director for Region 13 determined that student football players receiving football grant-in-aid scholarships qualify as employees under the NLRA and thus are due organizing and bargaining rights [Northwestern University and CAPA, 13 RC 121359 (2014)]. If the Regional Director’s decision is upheld, it will mark the first application of the NLRA to student athletes. Critically, in its review of Northwestern University and CAPA the Board again has the opportunity to overrule Brown University’s test of employee status. Inviting amicus briefs addressing six questions related to the student–athletes’ classification as “employees,” the Board asked: “Insofar as the Board’s decision in Brown University... may be applicable to this case, should the Board adhere to, modify, or overrule the test of employee status applied in that case, and if so, on what basis?” The deadline for amicus briefs was 3 July 2014. Amicus curiae include universities, university faculty, student athletes’ associations, the AFL–CIO, parents of student athletes, and other interested parties.
4. 20. The Committee notes this information with interest. In particular, the Committee observes that there have been significant developments on this matter before the NLRB and as regards the agreement reached between the GSOC/UAW and NYU to bargain in good faith and the ensuing determination of the representative union through a representation election. The Committee requests 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.