Graduate assistants, officials clash on unionization

A report intended to create consensus on the tricky topic of unionization for graduate students and adjunct faculty instead revealed some deep divides between transient educators and state and university officials when it was released this week

The 18-member committee charged with crafting the report was unable to issue a direct position on issues such as representation on university governing councils and collective bargaining rights for teaching assistants and adjunct professors. The opinions of committee members — including graduate students, adjunct faculty members, state officials and university administrators — depended largely on their positions in the dispute.

The state legislature charged the university system with creating a committee, formally called the Graduate Assistant and Adjunct Faculty Study Workgroup, to examine how both groups were treated at public colleges in the state. Graduate assistants at this university have long pushed for unionization, saying they are underpaid and overworked. The workgroup did decide that compensation — including salaries, benefits and tuition assistance — for both groups need to be re-evaluated in comparison to each university's peer institutions.

On the more controversial issue of unionization rights, the committee agreed adjunct faculty members had collective bargaining rights. But some committee members argued graduate students were disqualified from being employees because of the educational nature of their positions and therefore could not have collective bargaining rights.

"There was a strong feeling that graduate students are here first as students. They get these assistantships by virtue of the fact that they've been admitted into the university," said Joe Vivona, the university system's vice chancellor for administration and finance.

Whether or not graduate assistants are employees is a key question. If they are, they have collective bargaining rights. And while they pay income taxes on their earnings, most are not subject to payroll taxes and none are subject to furloughs, which Vivona said are better indicators of being an employee than income taxes.

But Todd Reynolds, an organizer with Maryland Teachers and Researchers, which is trying to create an adjunct faculty and graduate student union at the university, said assistants in some departments do pay payroll taxes. He also pointed out the university already treats assistants as employees by offering them health insurance.

While the workgroup dealt with the issue on a state-wide level, much of the impact would be felt in College Park. According to the report, this university, as the system's flagship institution, employs two-thirds of the state's graduate assistants. Adjuncts make up 22 percent of total faculty at this university and teach about 11 percent of the courses.

The report also claims unionization would threaten the relationship between graduate students and their mentors, negatively affecting constructive criticism from faculty mentors important to a student's career development.

"The suggestion of a sacred academic bond between graduate assistants and faculty that should not be regulated by collective bargaining is simply not the case," said Anna Bedford, a graduate assistant who served on the workgroup.

Bedford said graduate assistants do not usually report to their dissertation adviser, who is essentially the "mentor" in most cases. And professors at Rutgers University, which has an established graduate assistant union, said the union actually clarified the relationship between students and faculty.

The report also suggested giving graduate students more representation on university governing bodies, which Reynolds said was a poor replacement for unionizing.

"Under a union, the graduate students would come to the bargaining table as equals, and any agreement that they reach will be bound by law," said Reynolds, whose group is in the process of writing a minority report dissenting from the workgroup's report. "It's a legal guarantee that there will be democracy for the workers at the university."

Considering the temporary nature of graduate assistantships and adjunct positions, the report questions whether giving these groups collective bargaining rights would adequately represent these transient groups, in which opinions may change with their constitution.

"At the end of the day, everyone was concerned about creating an environment where adjunct faculty and graduate assistants would be valued in their position. We are looking at what's best for both groups and by doing so finding what's the best for the university and the students, of course," said Gareth Murray, legislative affairs director for the Maryland Higher Education Commission.

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