Stony Brook RA Union

What do they want? A fair and equal contract for every Research Assistant. When do they want it? Last semester, actually. Since the union’s establishment at the end of the Fall 2008 semester, members of the Communication Workers of America Local 1104 have been actively working to ensure fairer wages, more favorable benefits and better job security for Research Assistants at Stony Brook University.

Amidst reports of anti-union campaigning by the Research Foundation, the private entity that employs the RA’s, graduate students here at Stony Brook voted to unionize in December 2008. Soon after, union organizers set to work on a contract for RA’s that was on their terms. “[Our goal is] a contract with a robust grievance procedure that ensures that RAs are treated fairly and protected from exploitive or inappropriate treatment by our employers,” said Zvi Citron, an RA in the physics department and member of the bargaining committee. To date, however, organizers have met with a dismissive and unresponsive RF.

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New York sees a rare feat

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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In particular, a knowledgeable source said, the FBI is probing the work activities of Susan M. Bruno, the elder daughter of the former Senate leader.

The recent FBI inquiry at the Research Foundation — a private arm of SUNY that handles about $1 billion a year in grants and other funds for the SUNY campuses and employs more than 17,000 people — is tied to the ongoing federal grand jury investigation of Joseph Bruno’s political activities and private business dealings.

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“We have a louder voice and to have a louder voice we need to speak as one,” said Mariel Lopez-Gasca, a union organizer and a research assistant in the Marine and Applied Sciences Program. Some of the benefits these students receive that the RAs do not are waivers on transportation and technology fees, amongst other benefits. RAs will now be able to negotiate better contracts and one of the most important matters regarding contract negotiations is higher salaries, said Ms. Lopez-Gasca.

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