Although last week's decision to give graduate students the right to unionize was already more than seven months in the making, the process could continue indefinitely as the University appeals the decision.
"I know we have 14 days to file an appeal," University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said. "We are planning to file within the 14-day period."
After almost four months of hearings, the case eventually closed after briefs were filed in April. The regional National Labor Relations Board Director Dorothy Moore-Duncan finally announced a decision last Thursday giving Penn graduate students the right to unionize and be represented by a union organized by the Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania.
Even with an appeal by the University, union elections will still proceed early next year, but the votes will be locked until a decision about the appeal is made.
The board has already granted review at Columbia and Brown, so it will most likely accept the University's appeal in Penn's case, according to Deputy Attorney David Leach for the NLRB Region 2 office in New York City.
Columbia and Brown universities are already locked in appeals regarding similar decisions that local NLRB boards made allowing graduate students to be called employees and be represented by unions.
Because the cases at Penn, Columbia and Brown are similar, Leach said it is possible they will be grouped together. Should Penn file an appeal, the three cases may be "consolidated all in one case... They'll pick one case as the lead case and act consistently," he said.
Leach noted the cases may also be judged separately by the NLRB if it sees fit.
"I don't know how they're going to proceed," he said. "It's up to the board."
In the local decision announced by the NLRB last week, Leach noted that Moore-Duncan "had to follow the precedent of the NYU case" for Philadelphia.
"All the regions around the country are going to be bound by that.... This has been board law since October of 2000," he said, referring to the original decision made by the NLRB in recognizing the rights of NYU graduate students as employees.
The appeal by the NYU administration failed, and students successfully won the right to unionize and negotiated contracts in February, 2002.
Leach speculated that the NLRB might rule in several different ways. The board could look at the appeals cases and decide that students can be recognized as students and employees with the right to negotiate contracts, affirming the original NYU case.
Leach said the board could also revoke the right of graduate students to be called employees or acknowledge the role of students as employees of universities, but due to the "unique nature of the relationship" between students and universities, refuse to grant students the right to unionize.
The decision will also hinge on the makeup of the new NLRB board, according to Leach, as the former Democratic majority on the board will be replaced by President Bush's new nominees, creating a Republican majority.
Although far from over, the fight for unionization began a year ago when GET-UP filed the original petition. It took three months before formal hearings began.
But according to Moore-Duncan, the long decision-making process was only natural for a case of such magnitude.
"We generated approximately 5,000 pages of transcripts," she said. "You don't just read it.... You have to do the research and analysis because it's a big case."
"You have to follow existing law," she added, noting the laws require close reading of every piece of material involved in the case and a focus on the differences between Penn's case and those at other universities, including Brown, Columbia, Tufts and New York universities.
Moore-Duncan had to "consider all of those factors," which are reflected in the end decision.
"I think the decision really speaks for itself," she said.
