In an effort to gain greater influence within the University community, the Graduate Labor Alliance is seeking support for unionization among College graduate students.
The GLA, an informal group of graduate students who support unionization, plans to announce the formal creation of a graduate student union sometime this spring, GLA member Kate Nash said.
The group, who attracted attention last spring in their efforts to gain less expensive healthcare for graduate students, delivered a presentation to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Council last month to explain their union proposal.
Despite the GLA's actions, questions linger as to whether the formation of such a union is legal and worthwhile.
"They offered some interesting possibilities," said Todd Price, president of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Council. "I think the question is whether graduate students would be willing to pay the dues considering the limitations of the union."
Nash also noted the legal limitations of a graduate student union.
"In Virginia, the two major impediments are that we can't strike and we can't collectively bargain," she said.
Any graduate student union must be voluntary because of Virginia's right-to-work law, said Rip Verkerke, a law professor and the director of the Program for Employment and Labor Law Services.
The right-to-work law prohibits unions from forcing individuals to join their organizations in order to get a job.
Nash said that despite such limitations, unionization would afford graduate students the opportunity to lobby state legislators and speak with a unified voice to the University administration on issues such as health care and pay raises.
"It's not a question of grievances, it's a question of common interests," she added.
Graduate student attempts at unionization often come under legal scrutiny, Verkerke said.
In these cases, the crux of the legal issue would be whether graduate students merely are students or also employees, he said.
School administrations sometimes fight graduate student unionization, but other times they are fairly well accepted, he said.
University President John T. Casteen III declined to take a position on the unionization of graduate students.
In planning for their formation on Grounds, the GLA also is considering partnering with a national union.
Members have met with representatives of the Communication Workers of America, United Auto Workers and the American Federation of Teachers to discuss affiliation.
Generally, members have expressed support for banding with a national union, Nash said.
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