Colleges and Universities Must Continue to Recognize Student Unions (For Now)

On December 4, 2018, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) held that the University of Chicago violated the National Labor Relations Act (the “Act”) by refusing to recognize and bargain with student library workers. In doing so, the Board side-stepped the question of the continuing applicability of its 2016 Columbia University decision, which recognized student assistants at private universities as employees with collective bargaining rights. That decision prompted a wave of student organizing, with resulting clashes between student unions and college and university administrations.