Hide Article Text (OCR)
f ;v«-Renee Knoeber/Journal-Worid PhotoDan Murtaugh, an English graduate teaching assistant, center, talks with David Reidy, a Western Civilization OTA, and Christina Sharp, a philosophy A, in the Western Civ office, 1400 La. The trio are working to organize a OTA union but must wait for a legal ruling on state employee status before a union is formed.KU students seek vote to establish organizationStruggle for GTA union drags on• It could take nearly three yean to decidewhether graduate teaching students at KU have the legal right to vote to form a union.By Tim CarpenterJournal-World WriterDavid Reidy has a half-time job as a Kansas University graduate teaching assistant.But Reidy determined that he actually devotes 33 hours a week to what is supposed to be a 20-hour-a-week position.That's got to be par for the course, he said. Thars why it takes eight years to get a Ph.D.Reidy said his situation illustrates one reason students at KU have decided to try to organize a GTA union.Although one KU union organizer estimated in 1991 that the union drive might take a few months, a monumental legal battle continues to be waged between graduate students and university officials.This 2’/-year struggle is far from over.After a series of delays, the Kansas Public Employee Relations Board conducted a campus hearing in September to gather evidence to determine whether GTAs had the right toHOW KU COMPARESThe graduate student unionmovement at KU isn't an anomaly.KU peer universities have or are organizing unions. Students at the University of Oregon have full collective bargaining rights, while students at the University Of'areof Iowaform a collective bargaining unit.A ruling by PERB isn't expected until summer.All the work these days occurs in the obscurity of lawyer's offices. Most recently, the PERB hearing officer extended the deadline for written briefs to April 29.Reidy, a leading union organizer, said headuate students would prevail. If PERB's ruling goes against GTAs, Reidy said, a lawsuit would follow.I never try to predict what a tribunal will do, said Karen Dutcher, KU's assistant general counsel.Scott Stone, a lawyer for Kansas Association of Public Employees, the largest union of state employees in Kansas, is working on behalf of the GTAs.He said GTAs are state employees, which gives them the right to join a union like other state employees.But Dutcher said that GTAs are students in training for a career, not state employees. In addition, she said, unions run counter to the goal of educating students in a collegiate atmosphere.Reidy estimated that both sides in the dispute had spent about $10,000 on the case. KAPE has paid the graduate students' legal fees.If PERB rules that graduate students may form a collective bargaining unit, another hearing would be conducted to determine eligible voters.The election would give GTAs the opportunity to vote thumbs up or down on a union.The vote also would designate the union, such as KAPE, to represent them in negotiations with university officials.Alpi $8Cr
Newspaper Details
Lawrence Journal World
Lawrence, Kansas, US
Fri, Mar 04, 1994
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Hannah B.
KS, USA 07 Aug 2020
Other Publications Near Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence Journal World
Journal World
Lawrence Daily Gazette
Lawrence Daily Journal World
Lawrence Chieftain
