To U.S. Senators and Representatives: We, the undersigned, urge you to co-sponsor and support the Teaching and Research Assistants Collective Bargaining Rights Act, which would amend the National Labor Relations Act to restore collective bargaining rights to teaching and research assistants at private universities and colleges. This bill would reverse the unjust decision by the Bush appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (in Brown University) that stripped thousands of teaching and research assistants across the country of their right to negotiate equitable pay, health benefits and workload protections. This decision to deny teaching and research assistants their internationally recognized right to freedom of association has been condemned by thousands of scholars and human rights advocates, including the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations. Teaching and research assistants perform an increasing share of universities’ labor -- including teaching, research and administrative duties. Teaching and research assistants are workers who deserve, and whose livelihoods depend on, the full protections of the National Labor Relations Act, including the freedom to form unions and to bargain collectively over working conditions without fear of reprisal. Fair and secure working conditions for TA’s and RA’s at private colleges and universities mean better learning conditions for students at those institutions. Intellectual freedom and democratic exchange are hallmarks of institutions of higher learning, yet these values are undermined when TA’s and RA’s are denied their freedom of association and their right to collective bargaining. We urge, in the strongest possible terms, that you co-sponsor and support the Teaching and Research Assistants Collective Bargaining Rights Act. ***NOTE: WHEN YOU SIGN THE PETITION, ONLY YOUR NAME AND ANY AFFILIATION OR TITLE YOU CHOOSE TO ENTER WILL BE DISPLAYED PUBLICLY ***ANYONE CAN SIGN THE PETITION -- PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY

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