Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYU Grad Students Want Their Union To Be Recognized
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 28, 2010
Modified Apr 28, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Apr 28, 2010
Modified Apr 28, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
NYU's graduate students who work as teaching assistants are attempting to bring back their union. The Graduate Student Organizing Committee/UAW Local 2110, along with Rep. Jerrold Nadler and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, presented NYU officials with a American Arbitration Association certificate indicating that majority of NYU's graduate students want to be in a union and represented by GSOC/UAW. According to GSOC/UAW, "We are demanding voluntary recognition from NYU in order to correct an injustice that has gone on for too many years. Over the past decade, the majority of NYU graduate employees have consistently chosen GSOC/UAW for union representation. But time and again, the university has blatantly ignored our preferences and denied our rights."
The NY Times gives more history: Grad students signed union contact with NYU in 2002 ("stipends [were raised] by nearly 40 percent, improved health benefits and paid the assistants extra if their work took more than 20 hours a week"). But then "the labor board’s 2004 ruling took away their right to unionize and bargain for a contract, the assistants were unable to persuade N.Y.U. to sign a new contract."
A Ph.D. student said, "We want a union because we perform essential services to the university and we want to have a democratic say in wages and benefits and conditions. This would give us more security and stability in the workplace so that things don’t change at the university’s whim." Here's video of the rally:
Tagged
graduate students
GSOC
NYU
stipend
UAW
union
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Deer are all over New Jersey roads looking for sex, state officials warn
Mid-October through mid-December is deer mating season, which can be a danger to drivers as the sex-seeking creatures cross roadways throughout the Garden State.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 4:22 p.m. ET
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
News
Man messaged 'I got straight poison' before giving NYC college students fentanyl, feds say
A transcript from an April court hearing sheds new light on what transpired at Fashion Institute of Technology.
By
Samantha Max
Inside the plan to fix the nearly collapsed Pfizer Building, 1/64th of an inch at a time
By
David Brand
School bus carrying autistic students got lost in Brooklyn for 4 hours last year
By
Jessica Gould
NYC’s bridges can last 'forever,' if we take care of them
By
Clayton Guse
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .