University of Missouri considering legality of student union

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri is looking into whether a graduate student employee union at the university would be legal, interim president Mike Middleton said.

"We believe that the university needs clarity on the graduate students' legal right to organize, as there is no legal precedent or clarity in current Missouri law to make that determination," Middleton said in a release Wednesday.

The release was issued after an unpublicized meeting between administrators and representatives of the Coalition for Graduate Workers and the National Education Association, The Columbia Daily Tribune reported.

The graduate employee rights movement began after officials at the Columbia campus announced in August the university would immediately stop paying graduate students' health insurance premiums because of possible penalties stemming from provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

The university later reversed its decision, and interim chancellor Hank Foley said Jan. 19 it would provide coverage in the coming academic year. Last week, Sen. Claire McCaskill said the IRS had issued a new ruling it would not impose the penalties for insurance plans that begin before Jan. 1, 2017.

The news release also listed other actions the university has taken for graduate assistants, including a plan to increase minimum stipends by $3,000 over the next two years.

"There is significant progress being made to address the identified concerns, and we are committed to working directly with graduate students to find common ground," Foley said in the release.

Eric Scott, co-chairman of the Coalition of Graduate Workers, said Friday the university administration "is not willing to respect the Constitutional rights of its employees." Scott, who is also a doctoral student in English at the university, said the coalition "will not rest until our union is recognized."

Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com