Union vote to proceed at PSU

university, where a drive is underway to form a union affiliated with the United Steelworkers.

It would represent about 2,000 graduate teaching and research assistants at Pitt. Graduate assistants at Temple University, a third state-related university, already have union representation.

In February, the labor board ruled that assistants at several Penn State locations, including the main University Park campus, were workers and, as such, had a legal right to organize. Penn State maintained the individuals were not employees and challengedthe drive.

Mr. Cronin, a doctoral student and graduate assistant who studies energy and mineral engineering, has said he does not see himself as a public employee. He asserts the duties he performs 20 hours a week in return for a stipend, benefits and tuition waivers are primarily educational, preparing him for a career.

“I accepted my appointment to further my education,” he wrote in a affidavit attached to the motion, dated last Friday. “Had I merely sought to earn money as an employee during my time as a doctoral student, I could have done something other than being a graduate assistant.”

“I do not consent to the Coalition of Graduate Employees representation or to association with the Coalition of Graduate Employees,” he wrote.

The center said in a statement announcing the student’s challenge Monday that the board ignored state Supreme Court precedent. Union supporters counter that the 1977 decision referenced did not apply and characterized the center’s representation of Mr. Cronin as an attack on unions.