Know Your rights

Graduate student workers are in a unique position when unionizing, and some of you may fear retaliation from the administration, your department, or even your advisor. Some of you may worry that unionizing may harm your visa status or grant funding. Straight up: Any kind of harassment, retaliation, or revocation of rights or funds due to union activity (canvassing, picketing, striking, etc) is strictly illegal under Section 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). These laws apply to US citizens, residents, and non-citizen visitors.

The rest of this page goes through your rights as a unionizing worker in detail. If you would like to read the full text of the National Labor Relations Act, you can do so here. The full text of the 2016 Columbia University decision (in which it was decided that graduate students can unionize) is here.

According to the official NLRB reading of the NLRA,

It is unlawful to discourage (or encourage) union activities or sympathies "by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment." For example, employers may not discharge, lay off, or discipline employees, or refuse to hire job applicants, because they are pro-union.

Section 8(a)(3) of the [NLRA] makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer, "by discrimination in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment[,] to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization."

More protesting rights resources are given below: