What areas are generally subject to collective bargaining? In the context of graduate student unionization, topics of collective bargaining typically include wages, hours and other terms and conditions of AI and AR appointments, such as health insurance and leaves. What areas are generally NOT subject to bargaining? Matters unrelated to wages, hours and other terms and conditions of AI and AR appointments are generally not subject to bargaining. In other words, subjects relating to one’s status as a student -- and not relating to one’s status as an employee -- would generally not be subject to bargaining. For example, this includes the amount of University fellowship stipends paid to students, determination of who is admitted to the Graduate School, assignment of advisers and committees, determination of whether certain courses will be made available to graduate students, curricular requirements, course content, research requirements and similar issues. These are all academic issues, and virtually all collective bargaining agreements with graduate students make clear that academic issues are not subject to collective bargaining, including, for example, the number of hours spent on dissertation research and or other academic requirements. Housing is not likely to be a mandatory subject of collective bargaining, as housing is related to one’s status as a student and not one’s status as an AI or AR. Can a union require the University to bargain over providing more housing for graduate students? Is housing a mandatory subject of collective bargaining? No. Providing housing is not subject to collective bargaining, as housing is related to one’s status as a student and not one’s status as an AI or AR. A union cannot insist on bargaining about or require a university to build more housing or divert existing housing to graduate students. These decisions are reserved to management. They are the type of decisions that the United States Supreme Court has described as “a major commitment of capital investment” or “a basic operational change in the scope or direction of an enterprise.” See First National Maintenance Corp. v. NLRB, 452 U.S. 666, 673 (1981). These types of decisions are “akin to the decision whether to be in business at all, not in [themselves] primarily about conditions of employment, though the effect of the decision[s] may be necessary to [affect conditions of] employment,” and as such are not mandatory subjects of collective bargaining. Id. at 677. Nor are the costs of housing likely to be found to be a mandatory subject of collective bargaining. An illustrative case regarding graduate student housing involved the University of Illinois Springfield—a public university. There, the university unilaterally increased housing rates. The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB), relying on NLRB cases, found that housing rates did not impact wages, hours, or terms and conditions of employment of graduate student assistants, and thus housing rates were not a mandatory subject of collective bargaining. Can a union require the University to bargain over creating more teaching opportunities for graduate assistants? No. Creating more teaching opportunities would require the University to either (1) offer more courses, or (2) allow graduate students to teach their own courses (which the University does not permit). Both decisions are fundamental academic decisions that the University would not be required to bargain over. As recognized in Sweezy v. New Hampshire—a landmark case on academic freedom—a university has the right “to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study.” 354 U.S. 234, 263 (1957) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). Can a union bargain over student fees? Student fees and tuition are charged to all graduate students regardless of whether they serve as research or teaching assistants. Thus, they are not subject to bargaining. Currently, Princeton charges a Student Health Plan (SHP) fee, which is included in the overall tuition charge that is in most cases paid for at no cost to the student. The University does not permit students to waive out of the SHP fee. Ph.D. students who are in absentia and/or in DCE status also pay the mandatory SHP fee. Students are charged an annual student activities fee, which increases annually at the same rate as the University Fellowship stipend increase. The activity fee for 2022-23 is $25 and is allocated to the Graduate Student Government. What if an individual graduate student objected to a provision in the labor contract? Would the student still be bound by it? Yes. Collective bargaining focuses on graduate students as a group, not as individuals. This means that a union would speak and act for all graduate students in the bargaining unit, and the provisions in the labor contract would apply to all unit members, unless exceptions are provided for in the contract. The union would decide what to prioritize in negotiations, what not to advance in negotiations, and ultimately, what to agree upon with the university in a proposed contract. A contract is ratified by its membership according to the union’s bylaws. How long does it take to negotiate a union contract? It varies. The negotiation process for first labor contracts typically lasts a year or longer, during which time the status quo remains in effect (i.e., nothing changes during this time). However, it is impossible to predict how long contract negotiations would take. Likewise, it is impossible to predict the provisions of any negotiated contract. Who negotiates the contract? Typically, each side – management and labor – appoints a bargaining team to meet and negotiate the contract. Unions have their own internal rules about how members of a bargaining team are selected, and you should familiarize yourself with how that works. In addition, the union usually provides one or more paid union representatives – employees of the union—to lead or participate in the negotiations with management. The background and experience of the union negotiator is something graduate students should be familiar with if a union is selected. How long does a contract last? There is no required length of time, but a union contract typically lasts for three years. Will the contract guarantee increases in existing benefits and working conditions? No one can predict the outcome of negotiations. Neither side is required to agree to a particular proposal. The contract is the outcome of good faith negotiations and give-and-take between the parties. Current benefits can go up, down or remain the same as a result of bargaining. What happens if the union and the administration cannot agree on a contract? Under federal labor law, unions are allowed to strike. There have been several examples of strikes by graduate students around the country, including at Yale, Harvard, Columbia and NYU. In the public sector, over 40,000 graduate students at the University of California went on strike for several weeks last fall, affecting teaching and research activities across all campuses. Strikes are typically divisive and confrontational, and have lasting impacts on an institution, its students, employees, graduates and others. Strikes are an unfortunate aspect of unsuccessful collective bargaining. Resources Unionization Main PageAll Unionization FAQs