Columbia University Has Options to Delay Bargaining

Columbia University graduate assistants had their union election validated Dec. 18, but the fight is likely to continue, labor observers tell Bloomberg Law.

The school would not discuss the National Labor Relations Board’s decision approving the vote by graduate student assistants to join the United Auto Workers. It said it is “evaluating the Board’s decision to determine our next steps.”

The board had said in a landmark 2016 decision that graduate student teaching assistants and researchers at private universities like Columbia can be considered employees with a right to unionize under federal labor law. That decision could get another look ...