Two labor organizations have gone international with their arguments against the National Labor Relations Board’s 2004 ruling that teaching assistants at private universities are students and not employees, and therefore are not covered by federal labor law.
On Monday the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers submitted a complaint against the ruling to the International Labor Organization, a part of the United Nations. The unions argue that the American labor board’s decision to deny teaching assistants collective-bargaining rights violates international labor standards.
Whatever the International Labor Organization decides about the complaint, it does not have the power to overturn U.S. law.
Background articles from The Chronicle: United Auto (or Is That ‘Academic’?) Workers (1/17/2003)
Labor Board Rules Against TA Unions (7/23/2004)
NLRB Rules T.A.‘s at Private Universities Have the Right to Unionize (11/10/2000)
