Malloy fires up Yale grad students fighting to unionize

Approximately 2,000 people at Yale University’s Beinecke Plaza in front of Woodbridge Hall Tuesday in support of GESO at Yale and graduate students’ right to organize. Approximately 2,000 people at Yale University’s Beinecke Plaza in front of Woodbridge Hall Tuesday in support of GESO at Yale and graduate students’ right to organize. Photo: Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register Photo: Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register Image 1 of / 164 Caption Close Malloy fires up Yale grad students fighting to unionize 1 / 164 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN >> Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, recounting the story of his mother organizing school nurses in Stamford, gave his full support to the efforts of graduate students at Yale University to form a union as he addressed a spirited rally Tuesday that stretched a block long.

Malloy was accompanied by U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, several constitutional officers, state Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney and others on the stage where the Graduate Employees and Student Organization brought together between 1,500 and 2,000 students and labor supporters to College Street in the heart of Yale.

“I want to thank those of you who voted to stand up for yourselves, your fellow workers, stand up to this institution. I know how hard it is,” said Malloy to the crowd .

The rally was exactly two weeks before the Nov. 4 election, with Malloy in a tight race with Republican Tom Foley as he seeks a second term in office and is counting on heavy union support, particularly in New Haven, to get him over the top.

Malloy said 50 years ago he would listen to his mother on the phone working to form a union of school nurses who had a boss who would try to divvy up a full-time job into multiple part-time positions because “he truly believed that women didn’t need benefits.”

“He was wrong then and they are wrong now about what we need to do here. It takes a brave bunch of people to step forward. A brave bunch of people to argue the case. A brave bunch of people to say that we have gone this far, we will go no further without our rights being guaranteed, protected and of course recognized,” Malloy said to cheers.

Malloy said the doctoral candidates “do the hard work of this university and for that you should be respected, for that you should have the right to collectively bargain. I believe it. The people of Connecticut believe it. ... Let’s get the job done.”

The effort to form a union by GESO has been going on for three decades at Yale.

Former Yale President Richard C. Levin, who was in office for 20 years, refused to recognize the students as workers and current President Peter Salovey has continued that policy. In 2003, the students themselves ended up rejecting GESO.

GESO organizers hope the show of support from their current members and the unionized Yale employees with Unite-HERE, which represents the technical and clerical employees in Local 34 and the maintenance and trades workers in Local 35, will advance their cause.

They delivered a petition with photos of 1,000 grad students and 1,000 union supporters to Salovey’s office after the hourlong rally.

He was out of town but it was received by Pilar Montalvo, the director of administrative affairs in the president’s office.

The students have been emboldened by the success of their counterparts at New York University, where that university relented last year in its opposition that goes back to 1998 and is now negotiating a contract with graduate students.

A union also was recognized by the University of Connecticut for its grad students and the Chicago district of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Northwestern football players qualify as employees of the university and can unionize, although that is being appealed.

Malloy reminded the crowd that he recognized the rights of 20,000 home healthcare workers and daycare workers to organize, a move that has been impacted by a recent Supreme Court ruling challenging that organizing in a case in Illinois.

The governor was in full campaign mode in a city that is union friendly and where the Yale unions were able to get a majority of its supporters elected to the Board of Alders.

“This is the state that stands up for working class people. This is the state that passed paid sick days. This is the state that was the first state to pass $10.10. ... We finally got an Earned Income Tax Credit and the next thing on our agenda is you. We have got to get this job done. We have to stand up for you and that’s what we are prepared to do. ... And by the way, don’t forget to vote,” he said.

Malloy, as a governor, is an ex-officio member of the Yale Corporation, the governing body of the university.

Asked if he would bring it up to the trustees, Malloy said governors haven’t participated in the corporation deliberations since Wilbur Cross was governor of the state from 1931 to 1939.

“But I will talk to people about it, absolutely,” he said.

Aaron Greenberg, the alder from the 8th Ward and a political science doctoral candidate, is chairman of GESO.

About 500 students first presented the petition to the university in May, asking for Yale to recognize them as employees with the right to form a union, but the administration has not gotten back to them beyond a short statement by the university spokesman.

“Yale University and the Graduate School have worked and will continue to work productively with faculty and students, including the Graduate Student Assembly, on the issues identified by the petition. We are committed to the best possible academic outcomes for our students,” spokesman Tom Conroy wrote, according to the Yale Daily News.

Greenberg said they are looking to represent students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, basically doctoral candidates who teach in exchange for their pay. He said over 1,000 are members of GESO, which he said is a majority.

The NLRB has approved bargaining unions for grad students at public universities. For a short time, this was extended to private universities, but quickly overturned in 2003.

“It’s very exciting that at the same time we are trying to get recognized here and that we are having this fight, our colleagues 60 miles to the north (UConn) and 60 miles to the south (NYU) are negotiating their contracts,” Greenberg said. “That has really energized our members.”

Levin, employing best practices, established labor peace with Local 34 and Local 35 that previously had a long history of bitter strikes.

Laurie Kennington, president of Local 34, said this is the 30-year anniversary of their union and Local 35, which came together first “was really pivotal in pushing the administration ... to deal with us even when they didn’t want to negotiate. Now it is time for us to do the same for GESO.”

Kennington said the work of grad students and workers is integrated “in a way we have never been before.” She said cuts at Yale are impacting graduate teaching, the custodial staff and the clerical staff, even as the university gets ready to add 800 more undergrads at two new colleges.

Kennington was asked if they were willing to stike to support GESO.

“We are happy to say we have a contract until 2017 and look forward to negotiating a new one,” Kennington said.

Lily DeFriend, who heads GESO at NYU which has brought in the United Auto Workers, said, “If NYU can come to the table, Yale can come to the table.” She said for eight years the university said no, but that has now changed.

Allison Hadley, who is a third-year student in the Italian department, said she teaches five days a week and said she is worried “that shrinking numbers of graduate students will result in us not being able to teach those who want to learn.” She is concerned that a bigger student body will mean bigger classes and less support for professors.

“I want a union so I can have a voice in this decision making process,” Hadley said.

Robin Canavan, who is studying geology and geophysics, said she is concerned that the proportion of women scientists decreases as you move up in the ranks. She said in panel discussion on this, women in the profession said advancement is basically a matter of “luck.” Canavan wants to negotiate more opportunities for women scientists and not have to depend on just “luck.”.

Charles Decker, who is in the political science department, said diversity is important to him and the more viewpoints the better the education.

“But there are too many viewpoints missing from Yale right now,” he said, something he wants to change. If Yale chose to lead on diversity, it would transform the institution, he said.

Conroy said Yale employs 15,431 faculty and staff, the largest in its history, with 5,042 of them unionized. Despite the 2008 recession, he said union jobs have grown by more than five percent as have wages versus the broader labor market.

He said Yale has hired more than 1,800 New Haven residents in the past two years, almost half of the total.

Conroy said the doctoral students’ financial aid package includes five years of funding and free health care.

He said this includes a full fellowship that waives the $37,600 annual tuition and provides annual stipends ranging from $28,400 to $33,000.

Conroy said the faculty “believe that training in pedagogy is integral to the professional development of graduate students. Most students, therefore, assist in teaching one course per term, normally between 2 to 4 terms during the first five years of study.”