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UM System Asks Missouri Supreme Court to Block Graduate Students' Unionization

Ryan Famuliner / KBIA

The University of Missouri System is asking the state Supreme Court to overturn a decision that declared the university's graduate student workers employees and eligible to unionize.

The request came late Wednesday as lawyers for the university system filed paperwork asking the Supreme Court to take the case, following three consecutive rulings against the university by lower state courts.

The university is asking the state Supreme Court to reverse a unanimous ruling by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, on July 30 that the graduate students are constitutionally considered employees, and thus are able to collectively bargain with the university. The only question the appeals judges left open: Who can represent graduate students in the process. The appellate judges reversed a lower court ruling that made the Coalition of Graduate Workers the exclusive bargaining agent.

To learn more, visit our partners at the Columbia Missourian.