Duke University Is Trying to Turn Back Time on Graduate Worker Unions
Last week, Duke University’s graduate-student workers filed for a National Labor Relations Board election. The administration isn’t just fighting the union — it plans to challenge the legal status of all grad workers across the country as workers.
In challenging the employee status of graduate students at private universities by trying to revert to a George W. Bush–era National Labor Relations Board ruling that denied them such status, Duke is threatening workers well beyond its Durham, North Carolina, campus. (Duke University)
Duke University’s administration is returning to an old union-busting strategy.
When the university declined to voluntarily recognize the Duke Graduate Student Union (DGSU) after a majority of the school’s 2,500 PhD students signed cards in favor of unionizing with Service Employee International Union (SEIU) Southern Region Local 27, DGSU filed for a National Labor Relations Board election on March 3. Shortly after, the administration announced that it would challenge the union’s standing.
As Duke’s vice president for public affairs and government relations Chris Simmons wrote,
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.