Mac’s new union weighs labor charge after college changes work rules

May 23, 2025 by

Members of MUWU marched on their boss, who was in a meeting inside the campus center, to deliver a petition May 2

Newly unionized student workers at Macalester College in St. Paul marched on their boss May 2 after the school abruptly changed terms of employment covering many in the bargaining unit of 1,100.

The Macalester Undergraduate Workers Union (MUWU) alleges that its members showed up to work at the Leonard Center – an athletics and wellness facility and the campus’ largest student employer – in April and were told their hours had been cut.

The announcement came with no warning, and the administration did not consult with the student workers’ newly recognized union.

“They showed up to their shifts and found out that they were canceled,” MUWU spokesperson Xavier Honer said.

Macalester student workers voted overwhelmingly to unionize in February, but MUWU has yet to negotiate a contract with the college. Federal labor law requires employers to maintain the “status quo” of a newly organized bargaining unit’s terms and conditions of employment as the two sides work toward a first contract.

Macalester violated labor law by canceling shifts at the Leonard Center, MUWU alleges, and by announcing that the college would no longer allow students whose financial-aid packages do not include work-study employment to apply for work-study-eligible jobs, as they have in the past.

“A lot of people that had jobs are going to lose jobs next semester under this new policy,” Honer said. “It’s illegal because it’s a change, but also because it would shrink our bargaining unit.”

Student workers at Macalester allege that their shifts have been shortened and work rules altered since they voted to form a union in February. A spokesperson said the union is prepared to file charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

At the rally May 2, student workers attempted to deliver a petition demanding the college bargain with MUWU over those changes – and demanding the drop efforts to exclude some student workers from the bargaining unit – to Macalester Vice President of Administration and Finance Patricia Langer.

Over 50 student workers marched into the campus center and climbed the stairs to the second floor, where Langer was in a meeting. She initially refused to accept their petition, and student workers began chanting and reading the petition aloud.

Outside the campus center, dozens of alumni and supporters from the labor community gathered to show their solidarity with MUWU.

“I’m not willing to say that (the administration’s change to employment terms) was retaliatory, but I think that regardless of how they meant it, this was a test,” Honer said. “And we came out strong and showed them that we’re not going to sit around while they break the law.”

The fledgling union is asking alumni and community supporters to sign up for updates on how they can show solidarity with MUWU’s contract campaign.

Find a link to sign up at muwu.org.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Union election in February for Macalester student workers

December 16, 2024 by

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.

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Macalester student workers launch public union drive: ‘It’s been exhilarating’

March 26, 2024 by

Macalester student workers signed a petition to join MUWU – the Macalester Undergraduate Workers’ Union – after organizers went public with the campaign in February. (photo submitted by MUWU)

After 14 months of internal organizing, student workers at Macalester College went public in February with their campaign to form a union on the St. Paul campus.

“There are pretty big problems with student employment that are not going to be addressed unless we have the legally protected means to do so that you only really get with a union,” sophomore Henna Schecter, a member of the organizing committee, said.

Student workers hope to bargain for better pay and assurances that they will get enough hours to maximize their financial-aid packages. They also said unionizing would create protected, respectful lines of communication with their supervisors – who may double as their teachers – on work-related concerns.

“We’re treated more as students than we are as workers,” Roxy, a sophomore who works in the campus center, said. “We’re expected to do the work that any employee would be expected to do, but we’re not given the same sort of respect that an employee of the school should be given.”

Roughly half of Macalester’s 2,000 students have work-study jobs on campus. Organizers are moving quickly to collect enough union cards to demonstrate majority support before the spring semester ends – and hundreds of potential members of the bargaining unit graduate.

In the interest of timing, the Macalester Undergraduate Workers’ Union – or “MUWU,” an acronym that, yes, served as inspiration for the union’s cattle-themed logo – sought a neutrality agreement from the school, and asked for voluntary recognition if they collect enough union cards to demonstrate a majority.

While Macalester pledged to maintain a neutral public stance toward the organizing drive, a spokesperson said the school would force an election before recognizing the union.

For organizers, the decision was disappointing.

“Macalester has always been very prominent when it comes to activism, and they’ve always been very good about having people feel comfortable in making their voices heard,” Schecter said. “We would love to see that continue in recognizing us as a union.”

A frenzied start

Despite the setback, Schecter and other supporters described a growing enthusiasm for the union on campus. Hundreds of student workers signed onto the campaign in the days following the public announcement, as organizers posted signs, chalked sidewalks and collected signatures in public spaces.

“I feel like people are being heard, and it always feels good to be heard,” junior Bontu Takele, a sports medicine and research assistant, said. “It’s been exhilarating.”

It’s also been a long time in the works.

Student workers at Macalester began organizing in the fall of 2022. Roxy, Schecter and a few other students were planning actions in solidarity with Macalester dining workers who were forming a union at the time, when someone floated the idea of a union of their own.

The group quietly expanded its outreach to student workers in different departments, seeking to identify common issues that collective bargaining might address.

Several student workers cited disparities in the expectations of different work-study jobs that pay the same wage. Students working in the dining hall or assisting the training staff during an early-morning football practice are paid the same amount – minimum wage – as workers in cushier jobs, like staffing an information desk in the library.

“People are working long shifts in hot conditions and making the same amount as people who are working like three hours a week in an office, doing their homework,” Schecter said.

Organizers also heard from workers that lack of respect could be an issue in some positions.

“It feels like straight-up verbal abuse at times, and we don’t really have an outlet to talk about it except for with each other because of fear of being heard and potentially getting fired,” Takele said. “Having a level of respect between employer and employee is what I would like, not a power imbalance.”

MUWU decided to go public its union drive after organizing meetings began drawing nearly 50 student workers. (photo submitted by MUWU)

Within months of forming an organizing committee, its meetings had grown from six workers to 20. When nearly 50 student workers tried to cram into a meeting space earlier this semester, organizers decided it was time to go public.

“Summer is going to be a huge momentum waster, so we decided it was best to keep the momentum going now,” Schechter said. “It feels like we are very much at the start of something. We don’t know where it’s going to go, and we have no real context for what’s going to happen. But it is really exciting.”

Seizing the moment

Undergraduate student worker unions are a relatively recent phenomenon, as the National Labor Relations Board waffled for years on the question of whether or not student workers were primarily students and, as a result, ineligible for collective bargaining.

In 2016 the board issued a ruling that affirmed student workers’ right to unionize, and it survived a challenge by Duke University last year. Thousands of student workers – mostly graduate, but some undergraduate students, too – have unionized since the 2016 ruling, with a big spike in organizing during the pandemic.

Worker-organizers at Macalester hope to join their ranks soon.

“This is the culmination of a long, long period of work,” Roxy said. “It’s really cool to see the solidarity and see people coming together, and I really think this can spark more organizing among undergrads.”

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