State law (RCW 41.56.205) says that students who are enrolled in an academic program and classified in one of several job titles (Graduate Teaching Assistant; Graduate Staff Assistant; Graduate Project Assistant; Graduate Veterinary Assistant; Tutor, and others) at Washington State University are considered to be an appropriate bargaining unit for forming a union. Graduate Research Assistants are also included unless they are:

(1) performing research primarily related to their dissertation and
(2) have incidental or no service expectations placed upon them by the University

This phrase has been thoroughly reviewed and defined in reference to the Academic Student Employee bargaining unit at the University of Washington (UW) (UAW Local 4121), whose statutory framework (RCW 41.56.203) is nearly identical to WSU. In 2003 the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) issued a decision 8315 – PECB in response to the claim by UW that Graduate Research Assistants working on research related to their dissertations did not provide a service.  PERC rejected this claim and found that RA work provides a service to UW in multiple ways, including:

• fulfilling its grant-funded research commitments
• bringing in future grant funding
• enhancing the University’s reputation (through publications, awards, etc,)
• realizing both immediate (e.g. indirect cost and tuition reimbursement) and long-term (eg. licensing) revenue 

In PERC’s words:

“The record indicates that most graduate students spend many hours on their research, often including work on weekends and staying late into the night. The employer routinely uses ‘20 hours per week’ terminology that connotes a service expectancy. Even if the specific work hours of student/employees on RA appointments are not tracked, many of them have a service expectancy for work that fulfills a research grant on which the faculty sponsor is the PI.”

and:

“The record demonstrates that the great majority of the student/ employees on RA appointments do, in fact, have service expectancies imposed upon them by the employer (or by faculty members who are agents of the employer for this purpose) while they are working on their dissertations.”

Based on the statute, the 2003 PERC decision, and the negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement with University of Washington ASEs, UW Labor Relations created a FAQ with guidance for faculty and administrators who want more information about how to determine which RAs are in the bargaining unit.  It says:

“If you are not assigning work to the student and he/she is able to choose the work assignment and how many hours is put into the research, then there is no service expectancy.  However, if you require that the student find a faculty advisor and work on that faculty member’s research project and the faculty member assigns the student work that benefits the work product on that grant or contract, then you probably have created a service expectancy.  Another indication of whether a service expectancy has been created is whether the student is entered on the PI’s effort report for the project.”

While this isn’t an exhaustive definition of service expectancy it is generally consistent with the PERC definition and demonstrates why Research Assistants are included in the UW bargaining unit.

No. In the UW decision PERC defined RAs as student employees who “generally engage in research projects under the direction of faculty members (including assisting faculty members or other research staff members on specific assignments) or perform independent research under the supervision of a faculty member.” In a separate decision issued in 2011 (11139) PERC reiterates this.

PERC reinforced that the statute includes a two part test  (see above) for exclusion  from the bargaining unit, and that working on one’s dissertation is not in itself sufficient to exclude an RA.  PERC went on to say about the University of Washington (the employer): 

“The employer’s focus throughout this proceeding has been errone­ously limited to the first of those criteria. The fact of being on the so-called “dissertation track” is NOT sufficient to make a decision about eligibility for inclusion in the bargaining unit. It is ultimately the service expectancy imposed by the employer that qualifies (or the lack of a service expectancy that disquali­fies) an RA from eligibility for inclusion in the bargaining unit involved in this case.”

WSU Administration has the right to present a case to PERC that some or all of the Graduate Research Assistants should be excluded from our bargaining unit.  This could take a while to resolve: for example in the UW case the litigation process took approximately 18 months.

There will be several impacts. First, it will become more difficult to certify our union because PERC will not count authorization cards signed by RAs, which comprise a substantial portion of the majority needed. Second, it will extend the “status quo” period during which the University administration may not make changes to terms and conditions of employment that hadn’t been determined in advance of our representation petition. Third, it could delay our ability to bargain with WSU and address the issues that prompted us to form our union in the first place.

ASEs and allies (including faculty, staff, administrators and others) can offer to provide information and examples to WSU Labor Relations of ASEs doing research primarily related to their dissertations and show how their work helps WSU fulfill its grant-funded research commitments, bring in future grant funding, enhance the University’s reputation, and/or realize both immediate and long-term revenue. ASEs can also participate in helping contact colleagues about signing union authorization cards to expedite the certification process, as well as join the Mobilization Work Group to spread the word about this issue and help organize direct actions.