With GLO Push, RI Becomes First State To Explicitly Codify Student Unionization Rights in State Law
A new law signed by Gov. Dan McKee has made Rhode Island the first state to explicitly protect graduate student workers’ right to unionize if the National Labor Relations Board declines to do so.
McKee signed House Bill 5187 on July 2, capping off a monthslong effort by Brown’s Graduate Labor Organization to codify federal labor organizing protections in state law. GLO leaders had worked with the Rhode Island AFL-CIO and state legislators to advocate for the bill’s passage since its introduction in January.
The law, which was sponsored by state Rep. Arthur Corvese (D-North Providence), extends collective bargaining rights and other existing organizing rights for public employees to student workers “when not already protected by the National Labor Relations Board.”
The bill’s passage extends a sense of security to GLO leaders, who worry that an emboldened Trump administration could be hostile to student workers, according to GLO President Michael Ziegler GS.
In 2016, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that private universities must recognize student workers as employees. During President Trump’s first term, the Trump-controlled board proposed a rule that would have effectively struck down the landmark ruling, but the rule was later withdrawn during the Biden administration.
In February, GLO’s leaders told The Herald they feared the decision could be overturned due to Trump’s efforts to change the composition of the NLRB.
Given the first Trump administration’s eagerness to challenge the 2016 decision, Ziegler believes the ruling is “likely to be targeted” when the president is able to successfully install his picks on the NLRB.
In late July, a graduate student at Cornell filed a federal complaint against the Cornell Graduate Student Union, claiming that the union’s most recent contract infringed on his right to decline to financially support or join the union. The filing claims that graduate students are not considered “employees” under federal labor laws. If approved, the complaint could lead to the overturning of the 2016 decision.
The NLRB did not respond to a request for comment.
If the decision were overturned, the new statute would provide an extra layer of protection at the state level, continuing to classify graduate student workers as employees and allowing them to unionize through the Rhode Island State Labor Relations Board.
“I have a sense of relief for student workers of Brown that they can rely on state labor law if, unfortunately, the National Labor Relations Board were to overturn its Columbia decision,” Ziegler said, referencing the 2016 ruling which involved graduate assistants at Columbia University.
Rhode Island’s law is the only to explicitly guarantee the right to unionize for graduate student employees at private universities — unlike other state laws, which may encompass student workers in broader protections for workers excluded by the NLRB.
“The Rhode Island amendment might be the first state law to specifically mention graduate assistants, but it remains untested whether graduate assistants at private institutions have collective bargaining rights under existing laws in other states,” William Herbert, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, wrote in an email to The Herald.
Herbert noted that these types of laws do not “preclude a private institution from granting voluntary recognition under a negotiated procedure” facilitated by a state agency.
While Brown doesn’t expect to see any immediate impacts, University Spokesperson Brian Clark told The Herald that “we continue to recognize those unions with contracts in place, and we are bargaining toward initial contracts with both TWLO and BPLO,” referencing two labor organizations under GLO’s umbrella — the Third World Labor Organization and the Brown Postdoc Labor Organization.
The bill’s signing is “a very good win for organized labor,” said Rhode Island AFL-CIO President Patrick Crowley in an interview with The Herald.
“A lot of people worked very hard to get over the finish line, including the members at GLO,” Crowley added, calling the new protections “a big step forward in making Rhode Island's labor law more resilient.”
Ethan Schenker
Ethan Schenker is a university news editor covering staff and student labor. He is from Bethesda, MD, and plans to study International and Public Affairs and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and clicking on New York Times notifications.
The governing body has been effectively paralyzed since Trump fired Biden-appointed member Gwynne Wilcox, leaving the board unable to reach a three-person quorum and setting off a legal battle over the president’s authority to remove a sitting member. Wilcox was fired and reinstated twice before the Supreme Court ruled in late May that Trump could fire sitting board members.