Signs affirm labor's rights

Following a Wed., Mar. 29 settlement between the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Yale, University officials have agreed to "conspicuously" place notices regarding the Graduate Employees and Students Organization (GESO) around campus for 60 days.

The signs affirm, in a statement issued by University Provost Alison Richard, "Yale's commitment to freedom of expression on its campus, including the freedom of members of Yale's faculty, administration and student body to express their views, opinions or arguments concerning any matter, including unionization."

Specifically, the signs ensure the right to unionize—an immediate aim of GESO members—without fear of reprisal through the loss of employment.

But Tom Conroy, Deputy Director of Yale's Office of Public Affairs, maintains that this latest move does not represent a departure from the University's stance toward GESO.

"The NLRB, in applying federal labor law, should not conclude or rule that graduate students are employees," Conroy said. "That has been the University's position consistently ever since the issue arose [in 1995] and that has not changed." He explained that the notices do not apply directly to the graduate students. "They state federal labor law and the University supports that law regarding its employees; it does not believe at this time that employees include the graduate students. In contrast to Yale's estimation of the present situation, GESO considers the flyers an additional step in a broader, nationwide trend toward the expansion of labor rights on college campuses. It is a movement that was galvanized by the unionization of graduate students in the University of California system this past April.

According to Carlos Aramayo, spokesperson for GESO and a graduate student in the history department, "These notices affirm the right to organize in an atmosphere free from threats, coercion, and intimidation [and] are part of a national process knocking down the legal barriers to graduate teacher unionization."

After a year spent attuned to the fundamental issues of organization and development, Aramayo said GESO will continue to foster growth, as well as broaden at a grassroots level.

"We [are] focus[ed] on building a strong organization in every single department in the university to represent the interests of graduate students," he said. "As part of that we see the graduate student union movement as a whole, at Yale and across the country, as [moving toward] building the strongest university possible. The strongest most democratic, and the most accountable university in every department across the board."

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