TAs lose fed. case against Yale U.

The TAs claimed that Yale officials illegally threatened them during a January 1995 strike. In a controversial decision which could have implications for teaching assistants at private universities across the country, a federal labor labor law judge dismissed a complaint accusing Yale University of illegally threatening TAs during a January 1995 strike. Last February, the National Labor Relations Board issued a the complaint on behalf of the approximately 250 TAs -- led by the Graduate Employees and Students Organization -- who withheld grades to protest the university's refusal to recognize their right to unionize. During the strike, Yale administrators threatened to ban participants from future teaching jobs, withhold letters of recommendation and subject TAs to academic discipline and possible expulsion. The university filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming that the strike was not a "protected activity" under the National Labor Relations Act. Last week Michael Miller -- an administrative law judge with the NLRB -- told both sides that he would dismiss the case on the premise that the tactic of withholding grades is not "protected activity" under the NLRA. "We are gratified that the judge has agreed with Yale's position that the grade strike was not protected by federal law and has thrown out the case on that basis," Yale Vice President and General Counsel Dorothy Robinson said. "GESO-represented graduate students were not entitled to withhold grades until the University recognized GESO, while at the same time expecting to teach courses during the spring semester." And Graduate School Dean Thomas Applequist said he was pleased the judge reached the "conclusion that GESO's tactic of holding the students' grades hostage was found not to be legally protected." GESO members emphasized that the ruling does not settle the primary question of weather teaching assistants are considered primarily employees with the right to unionize or students. "The judge's preliminary ruling does not affect the primary issue," GESO Chairperson Antony Dugdale said. "The NLRB has already decided that we are employees, and neither Yale's motion nor the judge's ruling contests this." He noted that the case "has a lot of firsts associated with it" because it addresses the collective bargaining rights of student employees at private universities. Most public universities -- which are governed by state rather than federal law -- recognize the right of teaching assistants to unionize. But Robinson noted that for more than 20 years, the NLRB has considered teaching assistants to be primarily students, not employees.