NYU proposes not renewing graduate union contract

By ELIZABETH LeSUREAssociated Press WriterJune 17, 2005, 9:59 AM EDT
NEW YORK -- New York University, the only private university in the country to recognize a union of graduate students, has proposed not renewing its contract with the union. In a memo to students, faculty and staff on Thursday, the school's executive vice president and provost said a team of deans and senior administrators who studied the issue proposed "that we should no longer use a union as an intermediary with our students."

The current contract with the 950-member Graduate Student Organizing Committee, an affiliate of United Auto Workers Local 2110, expires Aug. 31. The university said it would begin a 30-day period of notice and comment on the proposed decision. In the memo, the university also recommended the creation of a representative group of students to interact with administrators, a grievance process for graduate students and written rights and responsibilities for graduate and teaching assistants. "We think that we can sustain and advance the positive aspects of unionization," NYU spokesman John Beckman said by telephone. "We're dismayed that NYU is refusing to negotiate a second contact with us," Maida Rosenstein, president of Local 2110, said Friday morning. "The first contract that we won made a substantial difference to graduate students at NYU. It improved wages by 40 percent, it improved health benefits. Without the union, these things would never have happened. NYU is engaging in the same union busting a corporate employer would."

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