Graduate students employed by the California State University system are trying to form a union.

The students last week submitted a petition to the California Public Employment Relations Board, asking that CSU recognize the United Auto Workers union as its bargaining unit. The petition is standard procedure, the students said.

An "overwhelming majority" of the 5,300 graduate students who work as teaching associates, graduate assistants, tutors and graders in CSU have signed union authorization cards asking for collective bargaining rights, said Xochitl Lopez, a Sacramento State grad student acting as spokeswoman for the students.

Lopez declined to state the exact number of students who signed the cards.

Unionization "gives us more power and more rights in negotiations for improvements to our working lives," Lopez said.

Lopez didn't provide details on specific items that could become part of negotiations. "After we're recognized, the members will determine bargaining priorities," she said.

Unionization of academic student employees is a growing movement across the country, Lopez said.

The UAW already represents about11,000 graduate-student employees at the University of California, as well as students at the University of Massachusetts and at New York University.

A spokeswoman for CSU said officials are looking into the issue and will soon release a response.