Columbia University has filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board to a recent on-campus union election in an attempt to block labor organizing efforts by its graduate teaching and research assistants.
In the election, which took place on Dec. 7 and 8, students voted 1602-623 in favor of unionizing, according to the United Auto Workers, the union with which the Graduate Workers of Columbia University affiliates. The election was a direct result of a landmark NLRB ruling from Aug. 23 that declared graduate assistants to be statutory employees under the National Labor Relations Act, thus giving them the power to unionize.
