Union Fever Is Spreading to Undergraduate Workers

Undergraduate student workers at campuses across the U.S. are getting in on the wave of labor movements that have swept across the country.

Late last month, Harvard’s non-academic student workers voted overwhelmingly to unionize workers across the university’s cafes, libraries and offices. Student workers at the University of Oregon also voted to unionize the same day, creating a “wall-to-wall” union that represents all student employees of the university.

With labor activity — and victories — on the rise, from Hollywood writers to auto workers, student employees are looking to flex their labor rights and harness their collective bargaining power through unionization votes.

Students at Harvard recognized the undergraduate labor organizing efforts at other universities as part of their decision to unionize. Since early 2022, over a dozen undergraduate student worker groups have successfully unionized or begun the organizing process, Inside Higher Ed reported in April.

Grinnell College in Iowa became the first fully unionized undergraduate campus in the U.S. in April 2022, with undergraduate workers voting overwhelmingly to expand the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers to all hourly student workplaces at the college.

In March, Dartmouth Dining Services student workers voted to unionize, and cited the support of other undergraduate labor organizations, including Grinnell, Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee, Columbia University Resident Advisors and others for their support.

As of last month, undergrad resident assistants unionized at Barnard College are in the process of negotiating their first contract. The student workers are looking for improved working hours, work schedules, placement and staffing ratios, among other economic and non-economic requests.

Many of the unions cited the pandemic as a catalyst for action, as the crisis laid bare the lack of protections and difficult conditions that many student workers put up with at on-campus jobs. The Harvard Undergraduate Workers Union cited “late or inconsistent pay, workplaces closing without advanced notice, unjust firings, no clear hiring process, and low wages” in many on-campus jobs as reasons for the vote. 

The Student Workers Collective at Dartmouth similarly pointed to insufficient wages and overworked employees, as well as a lack of investment into mental-health resources. 

At the California State University system early last month, student assistants secured the right to vote to form a union. Student employees in the university system earn $15.50 an hour, the state minimum wage, even in areas with higher local minimum wages. They are also restricted to working a maximum of 20 hours per week and don’t receive paid sick leave — major sticking points for union organizers, Cal Matters reported.

“We do the work of union staff, are paid minimum wage, get no sick leave or benefits, and that’s why I’m looking forward to voting for a union,” Leah Baker, a student at CSU Monterey Bay, told the outlet.

If the student assistants at the California State University system vote to unionize, it will be the largest undergraduate student worker union in the country with 20,000 members.

The students involved in undergraduate union organizing belong to Gen Z, the up-and-coming generation entering college and the workforce. Ella Meloy, a senior at the University of Oregon involved in labor organizing on campus, told Inside Higher Ed earlier this year that students have become “more sympathetic to unions, and that ideological component has been key in this process.”

Across the board, Americans are becoming more receptive to labor activity. Nearly 70% of Americans approve of labor unions, according to a Gallup poll released in August. Most respondents sympathized with striking workers over their employers, the survey found.