Macalester College student workers will vote in a union election on campus Feb. 25-26.
The vote will be open to an estimated 1,300 students in a wide range of work-study jobs, from library and cafeteria staff to athletic and research assistants.
The union, Macalester Undergraduate Workers United (MUWU), petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election Nov. 25, after collecting signed authorization cards from over half of the potential bargaining unit, MUWU spokesperson Xavier Honer said.
The organizing drive launched publicly last spring.
“When we came back this fall, we started with a meeting out on the lawn for Labor Day, and a lot of new freshmen like me got to see the union organizing for the first time,” Honer said. “So that was a catalyst for a lot of new activity, new energy.”
But school administrators have held the union campaign at arms’ length from the start, refusing student workers’ requests for a neutrality agreement and voluntary recognition, which would bypass the NLRB election process.
More recently, Macalester refused a meeting with MUWU organizers to negotiate an election agreement before a hearing at the NLRB earlier this month. And the school is pushing to exclude student workers paid by stipend from the bargaining unit.
Those workers will be eligible to vote in the union election, but their votes could be challenged in an effort to sway the outcome. The NLRB will decide their eligibility, if necessary, after the election.
Student workers have said they hope forming a union will give them a seat at the table to bargain for better pay and assurances that they will get enough hours to maximize their financial-aid packages.
“I am heavily reliant on financial aid, on work-study,” Honer, an assistant in the Administration and Finance Division, said. “I want to make sure that my colleagues and I can secure our work-study and have good, safe, well-paying jobs that give us experience and education.”
Others have voiced concerns about job-related expectations that go unpaid, like travel time, as well as the need for grievance procedures and other protected lines of communication with supervisors.
“We have a lot of diverse interests, but I think we’re all united as workers here working for one employer, just trying to get through college,” Honer added. “That’s tough enough; we shouldn’t have to worry about fighting for our rights in the workplace as well.”
Student-worker unions have spread to campuses across the U.S. since a 2016 NLRB ruling that affirmed students’ right to unionize. The opinion survived a challenge by Duke University in 2022.
Thousands of student workers – mostly graduate, but some undergraduate students, too – have unionized since 2016, with a big spike in organizing during the pandemic.
Union Advocate 