State labor official backs grad. students

Graduate students' fight for unionization rights in the state was given a boost last month when a state labor official wrote a letter to several state government leaders expressing concern with the initial report.

Jay Hutchins, an official with the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation was a member of the workgroup that issued a November report that stated allowing graduate students and adjunct faculty members at state public universities to unionize would be too expensive and could harm the relationships between graduate students and their mentors.

In his letter to legislative and executive state officials, Hutchins wrote that he was unsure if the workgroup's final recommendations reflected opinions expressed by all members of the committee. Hutchins wrote  that university system institution representatives were a majority of the workgroup and appeared "unreceptive" to the idea of unionization for graduate assistants and adjunct faculty, despite pro-union views held by other members.

The 18-person committee was made up of graduate students, adjunct faculty members, labor representatives, university officials and system administrators.

Hutchins' letter of contention is the second to assert that the November report overlooked opinions supporting unionization rights for graduate assistants.

In December, two graduate students alleged the report had an inherent anti-labor bias, unfairly represented the workgroup members and was written almost entirely by Joe Vivona, the university system's vice chancellor for administration and finance.

Vivona has said all members of the committee were given a chance to vet the report before it was issued.

But in his letter, Hutchins expressed outright support for allowing graduate students and adjunct faculty to unionize.

"It is my opinion that the discussions of this workgroup and the testimony heard from graduate assistants, adjunct faculty and institution leaders evidence a need for a greater degree of protection for these employees," he wrote.

Nearly two-thirds of the state's graduate assistants work at this university and have long pushed for their own union here as a means to lobby for increased pay and better treatment. Four of the university's five peer institutions have graduate-assistant unions.

Adjuncts, who make up about 22 percent of the faculty at this university and teach about 11 percent of the courses are also not unionized.

Hutchins sent his letter to Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie (D–Prince George's) and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Norman Conway (D–Wicomico and Worcester). Copies of the letter were also sent to Gov. Martin O'Malley and Secretary of State John McDonough.

The letter sent by the two graduate students in December was also sent to Currie and Conway.

Anna Bedford, one of the two graduate-assistant representatives to serve on the committee, said both letters should show state officials there is a real need for a state investigation into the conditions of "contingent workers" — adjunct faculty and graduate assistants.

Although the report claims standards of minimum stipends and maximum hours, Bedford claimed some university departments routinely ignore set standards, and many graduate assistants have largely forgone the formal grievance procedures.

"We do need a system that protects graduate assistants when they are facing excessive hours, less than minimum stipends or other abuses," she said.

Vivona said following the workgroup report, the university system created two teams charged with overseeing the implementation of policy changes suggested in the report, including allowing graduate students and adjunct faculty to take on a stronger role in shared governance.

The oversight committee, which is made up of both teams and of which Bedford is a member has already met once and plans to meet monthly.

But for many, this compromise is not enough.

"I do know there's problems with the university and graduate assistants that can only be resolved with unionization," said Todd Reynolds, an organizer of Maryland Teachers and Researchers, an on-campus organization formed to lead the push for graduate assistants' and adjunct faculty's  right to unionize.

"We want graduate assistants to have a democratic voice," he said.

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