At its Sunday meeting, the Yale College Council will debate a resolution opposing the use of card-count neutrality in ongoing efforts to unionize graduate teaching assistants.
The resolution is an example of the council functioning at its best, as a body dedicated to forming well-conceived positions on issues important to undergraduates and the University.
This page has long opposed a card-count neutrality agreement — a promise by administrators and faculty not to voice their opinions while union supporters attempt to get a majority of graduate student to sign cards favoring unionization — because it fundamentally contradicts the spirit of dialogue and debate that are essential to the University.
The council’s resolution supports that view, and if the measure passes it will help solidify undergraduate opposition to neutrality through the backing of their elected representatives.
The resolution correctly concludes that the proper means for graduate students to pursue unionization is a National Labor Relations Board-sponsored election — the same method New York University used to form the country’s first TA union at a private university.
The resolution, therefore, does not take a position on the graduate student unionization but merely presents a logical argument against the fatally flawed idea of neutrality.
We strongly urge the YCC to pass the resolution.