Union push gains steam among Yale, Harvard grad students

A union for teaching assistants is in place at only one private U.S. school, New York University, where the administration gave its blessing in 2013.

[...] organizing campaigns have sprouted or gained new life at other major northeastern universities, including Yale, Harvard and Columbia.

The Yale students are asking for recognition and for negotiations on issues including pay and benefits, mental health services and racial and gender equity among faculty and students.

"The argument that we're students and not employees falls flat for me when I think of how much time I spend teaching," said Michelle Morgan, a graduate student in American studies and a single mother who said she was hurt by a pay cut last year for upper-year teaching assistants.