The majority of the University's teaching and research assistants (TAs and RAs) will file a petition today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Boston requesting union representation.
The move toward unionization of Tufts' TAs and RAs (not to be confused with resident assistants) began at the beginning of this semester. Eighty to 90 percent of the graduate assistants on campus have been contacted and support unionization, according to English TA James McCrea. An estimated 400 to 500 graduate students work as teaching or research assistants at Tufts.
But Provost Sol Gittleman said he has received calls from some graduate students who were confused about what they were signing.
"A couple of grad students called and said that they didn't understand what was happening," he said. "They have no idea what all the implications are."
He said that it seemed like organizers avoided contacting natural science graduates, as they have been averse to these sorts of actions at other institutions. For example, Chemistry Graduate student Jason Epstein wrote a Daily viewpoint yesterday criticizing the unionization efforts.
The Tufts union - to be called the Association of Student Employees at Tufts (ASET) - will organize under the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW).
UAW also represents graduate employees at Columbia, the University of Massachusetts system, the University of California system, New York University, and the University of Washington. The same union will represent Brown's TAs and RAs, who began voting on unionization yesterday.
Tufts administrators will be officially informed of the unionization efforts through a letter after the petition is filed today. Once filed for recognition, the union will hold an election and decide what negotiations and benefits to pursue.
Some ideas under consideration include health and dental coverage, childcare, and higher wages, McCrea said.
The TAs and RAs decided to pursue unionization because of a perceived lack of input in the administration. "There is no real representation to discuss matters of being a department assistant," Computer Science TA Eduardo Calvillo said. "Stipends from each department and the workloads from each department vary."
The union will represent the greater concerns of graduate workers from all University departments. "We as workers can have a voice in our conditions," McCrea said. "There is a representative group of people from various departments who are involved."
"The union will bargain and negotiate in good faith to look at improving the lot of people who work hard and contribute a lot to the University," he said.
The Tufts union will become part of a larger trend among public and private institutions nationwide. Although unions have inhabited public universities for decades, according to McCrea, private schools have only begun unionizing on a larger scale during the past few years.
"I think there's a general awareness and there has been quite a lot of coverage on issues of unionizing," he said.
The TAs and RAs contribute significantly to the University, McCrea said, and should be able to work together to lobby the administration for their concerns. "A lot of TAs and RAs run labs and teach classes that are essential," he said.
McCrea also said that if the union decides to pursue higher wages, the University could benefit because graduate students choose to study at schools with higher stipends.
