Organizing Resources

Undergraduate organizing and unionization isn’t new

Student organizing and unionization is not a new concept and you’re not alone. The Resident Assistant and Peer Mentor Union at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was organized in 2002 following months of protests, legal battles, and sit-ins. In the same year, undergraduates at Columbia University were fighting for a union. Floor Fellows at McGill organized a union in 2014 following a change in university policy that moved away from a harm-reduction approach to breaking the student code of conduct. The Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers was certified in 2016 and they are working to expand to all campus workers. The University of Chicago Student Library Employee Union voted to join Teamsters Local 743 in June 2017.

Even when student workers have not formed unions, they have fought to improve their working conditions. At Brown University in the summer of 2017, student staff at Summer @ Brown organized, protested, and went on strike to fight racism and poor pay. In 2017, over 20 different United Students Against Sweatshops locals started campaigns for a $15 minimum wage for campus workers. Recently, Cornell Resident Advisors went on strike to demand changes to their positions especially in the wake of COVID-19.

And this barely touches all of the stories from all over the country - and all over the world - of student organizing efforts.