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Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley issued an open letter to the Boston College community Monday announcing that the University has filed a motion before the National Labor Relations Board to stay the Graduate Employees Union election. A request for review of the regional director's recent decision in favor of the union has also been made.
The NLRB ruled in May that most BC graduate employees were protected under the National Labor Relations Act, and were therefore able to vote on union representation. An election is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Sept. 12 and Wednesday, Sept. 13 to certify Boston College Graduate Employees Union - United Auto Workers (BCGEU-UAW) as the employees' bargaining representative.
If BC’s appeal is accepted, the vote could be delayed until the regional director’s decision is revised. Other private universities such as Columbia have taken similar actions to delay and appeal recent NLRB decisions regarding their graduate employees.
Quigley asserts in his letter that as a Jesuit university, BC “should be exempt from the jurisdiction of the NLRB with respect to the United Auto Workers’ petition because of the religious dimensions of our mission.” He also says that “This decision could have far-reaching consequences for our way of proceeding as an academic community.”
