The University and the UAW have reached a voluntary agreement to hold an election to be conducted by the American Arbitration Association so NYU and NYU-Poly graduate employees can decide on representation by the Graduate Student Organizing Committee/UAW and Scientists and Engineers Together/UAW (GSOC/UAW and SET/UAW).

Joint Statement of NYU and GSOC and SET, UAW

We are confident this agreement will re-establish a trusting and productive relationship between the Union and the University, will improve the graduate student experience, and will sustain and enhance NYU’s academic competitiveness. When NYU and the UAW negotiated an historic first contract that lasted from 2002 to 2005, we achieved these goals.

The UAW and the University have mutually agreed to withdraw the NLRB proceedings.  Under the agreement, the University and the UAW have committed to bargain in good faith for a contract upon confirmation of a majority vote by graduate employees for UAW representation in collective bargaining.  We also agree on principles under which covered graduate students will make their choice on unionization without influence or campaigning by the University administration and without further delay. The election is expected to take place before the end of the semester.

Graduate employees eligible for UAW representation will be substantially the same ones who were eligible under the first contract.  This bargaining unit will be expanded to cover the NYU Poly graduate employees and employees in their sixth and seventh years of doctoral studies. While we have not resolved our differences about bargaining rights of research assistants in the hard sciences, this agreement will enable more than 1,000 graduate employees whom we do agree have bargaining rights to choose unionization.

In the absence of the NLRB’s jurisdiction, the University and the Union are pleased to reach an agreement on a mechanism to enforce the agreement with neutral arbitration to ensure that the University and the Union abide by the both letter and spirit of the agreement made here today.

Both parties concur that the "academic management rights" of the University to make academic decisions separate from the bargaining relationship will be honored by the Union, making clear that academic decisions are not subject to bargaining.

Finally, both the University and the UAW see this agreement as an opportunity to prove again that bargaining for graduate employees can be effective in a private university.  The Union and the University are pleased by the trust exhibited to this point to reach this historic agreement.  It will form the foundation of our relationship going forward. The University is pleased at the expansion of our relationship with the UAW, and the UAW is excited about its enhanced relationship with one of the most innovative global private teaching and research universities.

 

Press Contact

John Beckman
John Beckman
(212) 998-6848