Beginning in the 1970s, graduate, teaching, and research assistants in the various schools of the State University of New York (SUNY) decided it would be beneficial to form a union for graduate student employees. Though they were students, they were also employed as assistants in a variety of capacities at their respective SUNY schools and wanted the right to bargain with the state of New York for fair employment conditions. [1] The movement began at SUNY Buffalo in 1975 and showed great promise based on the number of signatures gathered from graduate assistants up until 1977. [2] However, the movement suffered a temporary setback over issues regarding New York State’s Taylor Law, which forbids public employees to strike in order to preserve “harmonious and cooperative relationships between government and its employees”; it is also intended to protect the best interests of the public by making sure that government operations function smoothly and without interruption. [3] The law specifically recognizes public employees’ right to organize, utilize grievance procedures, and obtain the aid of a relations board to help them resolve differences with employers provided the employees are part of a legally recognized union. SUNY Buffalo’s early attempts to unionize were unsuccessful because although the organizers signed affidavits that they would uphold the Taylor Law, they had been part of two strikes prior to that time. As a result, the SUNY Buffalo administration decided not to authorize the Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU).[4]

Organizing attempts began again in earnest in the early 1980s. Statewide organization became a priority when the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) explained that such action was necessary for the GSEU to gain legal recognition. [5] Therefore, the largest of the SUNY campuses—the four “university centers” of Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, and Stony Brook— became the hubs of activity for union organizers. Initially, the students did not wish to be affiliated with larger unions like United University Professions, wary of giving up any independence. [6] However, after working to swell theirnumbers for several years, members eventually voted in 1984 to associate with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) since such an alliance would greatly strengthen the GSEU’s bargaining power. [7]

Within months of coming under the wing of the CWA, the students decided to petition for a certification election that would allow graduate student employees to vote for or against unionization. After deliberating over the matter for two years, PERB decided in 1986 that the GSEU did not have the authority to vote on that issue. [8] PERB’s reluctance to grant legal recognition to the GSEU was due in large part to their doubt about graduate students’ status as state employees; they viewed the organizers as students first and employees second, which meant that PERB questioned the organizers’ right to bargain in the first place. [9]

PERB ultimately decided to allow the graduate student employees to vote on unionization in 1991, but only for teaching and graduate assistants (TA and GA). Research assistants were not considered eligible as per PERB’s existing rules, since they were (and still are) considered employees of the Research Foundation, not of SUNY. Believing that this was a step in the right direction, and that they could better advocate for the rights of research assistants if graduate and teaching assistants were legally recognized, the students went ahead and voted 6 to 1 to unionize. March 1994 brought the union its first contract after a year of negotiation, followed by two pay raises, creation of grievance procedures, and a health-care plan for student assistants, their spouses, and their dependents. [10] Rights such as grievance procedures did not come immediately, however, and the GSEU had to negotiate new contracts more than once before achieving some of the union benefits it wanted.

Completely student-run, the GSEU has a statewide executive committee that oversees union activity around New York. The elected officers take charge of procedures like policy planning and collective bargaining, but they are helped by elected officers of the steering committees at the SUNY schools, particularly the four university centers. Stewards on each campus are the eyes and ears of the steering committees and act as liaisons between the student body and steering committees. Members can be full or associate, depending on whether they are graduate/teaching assistants or not. The constitution, by-laws, and other policies of the GSEU are the products of the students themselves and have been amended as necessary over the years.[11]

In the winter of 2001, the members of GSEU— whose division had previously been recognized as Local 1188—merged with CWA Local 1112 (Telephone Traffic Union Upstate Workers) and CWA Local 1104 (Telecommunications) in order to gain more bargaining power. All three entities would then be known as CWA Local 1104, with all the bargaining power that such a union entails, but without having to give up the administrative structures and authorities set forth by the groups’ original charters. Original Local 1104 members became known as the Telecommunications Division, Local 1112 members became known as the Operator Services Division, and the old 1188 members became the Education Division. The organization of each division remained the same for three years, after which the CWA Local 1104 Executive Board could vote to make changes if necessary.[12]

As of spring 2010, the Graduate Student Employees Union was still active around the SUNY campuses, encouraging members to speak out on issues regarding TA and GA rights, and continuing to petition the governor and his colleagues on topics like tuition increases and fair wages. Research assistants, particularly at SUNY Stony Brook, have kept up their effortsto be recognized as official union members. In April 2010 the they brought their issues to New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in the hope of garnering support for a union contract, a victory they hope will be forthcoming.[13]

For more information on unions within the Communications Workers of America, refer to the finding aid for CWA Local 1104,Operators Division, which chronicles the union history of the New York Telephone (later AT&T) telephone operators.

The information provided above was gleaned from the following sources:

1. 1. GSEU: An Organizing Guide, Series #1 Founding Papers
2. 2. PERB. (14 November 2009). The Taylor Law: Public Employees’ Fair Employment Act. NYS Public Employee Relations Board. Retrieved 2 April 2010 from http://www.perb.state.ny.us/stat.asp#pol
3. 3. GSEU: An Organizing Guide, Series #1 Founding Papers
4. 4. 1995-1996 GSEU Stewards Manual, Series #2 Statewide Executive Division
5. 5. GSEU: An Organizing Guide, Series #1 Founding Papers
6. 6. 1996-1997 GSEU Stewards Manual, Series #2 Statewide Executive Division
7. 7. 1995-1996 GSEU Stewards Manual, Series #2 Statewide Executive Division
8. 8. “GSEU battling to bolster its membership, get recognition” from the UB Reporter, 3 Feb. 1983, 14 (16).
9. 9. 1995-1996 GSEU Stewards Manual, Series #2 Statewide Executive Division
10. 10. 1996-1997 GSEU Stewards Manual, Series #2 Statewide Executive Division
11. 11. 1995-1996 GSEU Stewards Manual, Series #2 Statewide Executive Division
12. 12. Retrieved 31 March 2010 from http://www.gseurankandfile.org/fusion.html
13. 13. Stony Brook RA Union. “RA Union Meets NYS Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.” Retrieved 3 May 2010 from http://sbraunion.org/