Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined HELP Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and 12 Democratic senators in opposing the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) proposal to deny students employed by their private colleges and universities their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). In a letter sent yesterday, the senators urged the NLRB to withdraw the proposed rule, which would strip both undergraduate and graduate students who are employed by their private universities of fundamental workplace rights. Specifically, this rule would prevent these student employees from exercising their rights under the NLRA to join together to choose labor union representation, protest racism and sexism in the workplace, demand fair wages, secure better working conditions, and advocate for expanded access to child care.

"The NLRB's proposal to deny students in higher education their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NRLA or Act) will harm working students, many of whom already struggle to attend class, maintain a job, and pay for the extraordinary costs of higher education," wrote the senators.

Currently, students employed by their private universities enjoy the full protection of the NLRA, a powerful source of workers' rights and protections. Students have organized to form unions at several private colleges and universities in Massachusetts. But the NLRB--the agency charged with enforcing these rights--has proposed a rule which would exclude all students performing work for a college or university from the NLRA. The senators noted that the NLRB's proposal undermines congressional intent behind the NLRA and that there is "no legitimate policy justification for excluding student employees from the Act's protections."

The letter was also signed by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Tim Kaine (D-Va.).

As an advocate for workers, Senator Warren has supported legislation to strengthen protections for employees under federal labor law and has stood by unionization efforts at schools in Massachusetts, including Harvard and Boston College. In addition, she has fought for the enforcement of ethics rules at the NLRB, and strongly opposed efforts by the NLRB to narrow its joint employer standard in the Hy-Brand case, which was vacated after the senator raised concerns about a conflict of interest involving a board member.

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