The Stanford Resident Assistant Union (RAUR), Stanford’s Resident Assistant (RA) unionizing group, withdrew its petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Monday. The group cited concerns the board would overturn unionization precedents in future decisions.
“This decision was definitely not made lightly,” RAUR member May-Jann Wong ’27 said, stating it was important for the group to “reaffirm our solidarity with other workers across the country.”
The group withdrew their petition over concerns about the potential implications to the precedent set by the 2016 Columbia University decision after seeing that “Stanford and those [NLRB] officials have both signaled to each other at this point that they are trying to overturn Columbia,” according to RAUR member Jackie Correy ’27. The Columbia decision established that graduate student workers at private universities are employees under federal labor law.
“This is admittedly a setback, but we really do believe that we can keep fighting and winning,” Correy said.
RAUR petitioned the NLRB for recognition as the union representing Stanford RAs and educational technology assistants in response to grievances with the administration, including underpayment and lack of communication. In August, the Oakland regional NLRB ruled that Stanford RAs are employees with the right to unionize. The group was set to vote on the union in early October though Stanford had appealed the election date to the national board.
“Stanford greatly values the role of residential student leaders as an integral part of student life at Stanford and as a leadership development opportunity,” University spokesperson Angie Davis wrote to The Daily. “The University believes the nature of the role does not make it eligible for unionization under the National Labor Relations Act, and it followed established NLRB processes to bring that question before the Board. We continue to be committed to working with Resident Student Leaders (RSLs) to ensure a positive and rewarding experience for them and for the students they support on our campus.”
RAUR plans to continue organizing. “We aim to join the ranks of student workers at colleges such as the University of Massachusetts, University of Georgetown and Brown University, who have won union recognition without going through the NLRB,” RAUR wrote in a press release.
RAUR’s decision to withdraw was made by a majority vote at its weekly organizing committee meeting, according to the statement. RAUR’s withdrawal means the group will no longer pursue a federally supervised union election through its current NLRB petition.
“We as a union are very much set on continuing our efforts to not only fight for better conditions by pressuring Stanford, but also pursuing unionization through other methods that don’t require filing the petition with the NLRB and putting the Columbia decision at risk,” Wong said.
RAUR members emphasized the connection between their fights for workers rights and other labor movements.
“We’re all in this labor struggle together, and we need to support each other, especially in difficult times for everyone in the labor movement,” Wong said.