AT UUPINFO.ORG; Guide helps members balance work, family

To support members’ efforts to balance their family and work needs, UUP has compiled a guide that outlines options to address family leave needs and identifies programs and services that can assist professionals and academics as they attempt to balance work and family life.

UUP’s goal was to bring together information members need to know to explore possibilities and identify the services available to them.

The Family Leave/Work- Life Services Guide is not intended to address all circumstances or individual issues. It does, however, provide a comprehensive picture of possible options and benefits UUP members can access. Members are advised to seek additional information from their UUP chapter officers and/or campus Human Resources departments.

To read the guide online, click on it from the UUP home page or under Reports/Guides in the left-hand toolbar.

NLRB RULING; Decision may boost grad employee organizing

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently took favorable action on a petition from the New York University Graduate Student Organizing Committee/United Auto Workers seeking a vote on union representation for graduate teaching and research assistants at NYU.

In October, the NLRB overruled a decision by a regional director, stating that it was not possible to judge the accuracy of representations made by the union and the university without holding a hearing on the petition.

Also, the NLRB found “compelling reasons” to reconsider a 2004 board precedent that graduate students at Brown University were students and not employees under the National Labor Relations Act.

“The NLRB’s direction here gives the board the opportunity to get it right and correct the obvious flaws in the Brown decision,” said David Strom, general counsel for the American Federation of Teachers.

The NYU case has been returned to the NLRB regional director, who is charged with holding a full hearing and issuing a new decision based on the evidence.

AT UUPINFO.ORG; Booklet available to help organize vital records

Having personal information in one place can make it easier for UUP members and their families to deal with the unexpected.

That’s why UUP’s Committee on Active Retired Membership compiled a new booklet—Organizing Your Vital Records—to help members more easily navigate moments of change.

The booklet is available for download at www.uupinfo.org. Click on Reports/Guides.