Research assistants join a union
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| Nature 457, 502 (21 January 2009) |
New York sees a rare feat |
| Research assistants at the Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY) in Stony Brook have decided to unionize — the latest development in ongoing unionization battles at US universities. Nearly all who voted last month to join the Communication Workers of America (CWA) are working in science, says Matthew Engel, a Stony Brook research assistant who campaigned for union representation. Frustrated by issues such as fees and job insecurity, they are seeking benefits comparable to those received by teaching assistants.
Research assistants are graduates temporarily doing academic research at a college, university or non-university institution. They usually work on projects supervised by full-time academics who administer the funds that provide their salaries. Teaching assistants generally receive fixed pay from the university. In 2004, the federal National Labor Relations Board ruled that research assistants are students, not employees, and so could not be represented by a union. But a 2007 board ruled that those at the SUNY Research Foundation in Albany, Buffalo and Syracuse were fundamentally employees. Teaching assistants are already represented by the CWA. “We found out that they had negotiated some benefits, and we thought it was a good idea,” says Engel, a doctoral student in Stony Brook’s biomedical engineering department. According to the union website, its local branch now represents more than 4,000 research and teaching assistants throughout the SUNY system. Engel hopes to negotiate reduced fees and improved pay and health benefits. SUNY research assistant Luigi Longobardi emphasizes the importance of job security for non-US research assistants whose visa status depends on funding. “If we’re going to be without funding, we should have a fair amount of time to find another adviser or alternative sources of funding,” he says. According to the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions, some 30 unions cover graduate employees on more than 60 campuses. “The Research Foundation is committed to following all laws and regulations related to collective bargaining,” a foundation spokeswoman says. The university has raised no objections to the vote. Engel says the research assistants are selecting a negotiating team and expect to sign a contract with the Research Foundation soon. |
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