Today’s decision by the National Labor Relations Board is a tremendous victory for the UAW and our members, graduate student employees at Columbia University and at New School University. For more than a decade the UAW has fought relentlessly alongside graduate student employees in private universities to win the right to bargain collectively. Earlier this week, we reached a tentative agreement with NYU for a contract that accomplishes substantial gains in compensation and healthcare.  Now, this NLRB decision – fundamentally this is a victory for all graduate student employees who deserve the same fairness and organizing rights at Columbia, The New School and other private institutions.  We look forward to the day when all graduate employees can look at the Brown decision as just a faint image in our rear view mirror.