In a 2 to 1 NLRB decision, the board agreed to reconsider allowing graduate students to unionize, paving the way for the board to issues a full-hearing decision soon. Private universities would then have to contend with the potential of grad students organizing under such stalwart unions as the United Auto Workers, much like their public university cousins do now. Prof. Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell, believes that urban universities would be the most ripe for organizing, because they have more “students of color and students with a personal or family background in labor.” Almost under the radar, the SEIU is running a full court press to organize on private university campuses (see this recent example at Colgate). They are also extending their reach beyond their usual constituents (cafeteria and janitorial workers) to the adjunct professors. As this Canadian news source points out, “US colleges and universities were once the finest in the world. Today, they run the risk of ending up like General Motors. As the SEIU continues to rack up unionizing successes, more and more institutions of higher learning will find that they can no longer fire incompetent professors and that some of their best and brightest teachers are choosing to leave rather than pay to support an organization they detest. If the SEIU has its way, America’s colleges and universities will find themselves in a headlong free-fall to the bottom. “
