Graduate student research assistants at the following public universities have formed labor unions and negotiate contracts with their employers.
University of Florida (Graduate Assistants United)
Rutgers University (Rutgers AAUP-AFT)
New Jersey Institute of Technology (United Council of Academics)
University of Oregon (Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation)
University of Washington (website)
University of Massachusetts – Amherst (Graduate Employee Organization)
University of Iowa (Campaign to Organize Graduate Students)
State University of New York – Stony Brook (Stony Brook RA Union)
You might notice that there are no private institutions on this list. This is because the National Labor Relations Board, which administers the labor law that applies to employees of private universities, currently does not permit graduate employees (or tenure-track faculty) to form labor unions. Public universities fall under a separate body of labor law and, depending on the state, graduate employees may or may not be allowed to form labor unions.
