Campus workers announce union at Jacksonville State University

There’s a union for campus workers at Jacksonville State University.

Organizers earlier this week made a public announcement of United Campus Workers/Communications Workers of America Local 3965 at the university.

It’s the third such union at Alabama institutions, joining UCW locals at the University of Alabama and Auburn University.

English professor Teresa Reed, a member of the organizing committee, said meetings about the union started a couple of years ago.

“We met with the regional coordinator for UCW, and have kind of been building from there,” she said in an interview. “We reached out to folks in our departments, folks we knew across campus and got more members to join, until we felt it was time to go public with the union.”

UCW is based in the South and also has chapters in Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. All of those are right-to-work states, meaning no one can be compelled to join a union, but organizers at JSU cited the local’s constitutional right to establish itself.

According to UCW’s website, it seeks to organize in a wall-to-wall fashion the people who “make our colleges and universities work” — not just regular faculty and staff, but undergraduate and graduate workers.

A news release announcing the union said members seek to “build on campaigns” by UCW at other Southern campuses that have produced a $15 minimum wage for campus workers, base pay raises for lecturers and academic advisers, and the elimination of graduate student fees.

Organizers in the release cited declining morale among JSU’s faculty and staff because of “wage stagnation, increased workloads, top-down decision making and the erosion of benefits.”

Lance Ingwersen, an associate professor of Latin American history and part of the chapter’s organizing council, said in the release, “It has become increasingly clear to our members that unionization is the most effective means to achieving fairness and having our voices heard at JSU. We believe that all employees should earn a living wage, have access to basic benefits and possess safe working conditions. That is not currently happening on our campus.”

The announcement cited “record enrollments” that have “stretched the university thin.” The result: larger class sizes and the hiring of more adjunct faculty. Those adjuncts receive between $2,000 and $2,500 per three-hour class, according to the release; the national average is $3,500 per course.

Many campus workers don’t receive benefits, those who do have seen benefits erode (the release cited a job posting for a full-time housekeeper at a $9.09 hourly salary with no benefits) and student workers generally earn $8.25 an hour, just over minimum wage.

“This is anecdotal, but I’ve had students tell me that they thought they were going to work on campus, but they say they can make more and work less at McDonald’s,” Reed said. “Where they could be getting some really cool interaction with faculty and staff at the university, and growing professionally and academically.”

Reed, a veteran professor and last year’s winner of the university’s William A. Meehan Legacy Award for her career contributions, said in the news release, “In the past several years, it’s become apparent that the power structure has changed. It is now much more a top-down system than it used to be, which means that input from faculty and staff — and particularly those with the least power — has been greatly curtailed. Joining and helping grow the union is the best way to amplify many more voices on campus.”

She said in the subsequent interview that the fact UCW represents all workers on campus appealed to her.

Other members of the organizing council quoted in the release cited the need to improve students’ learning experiences.

“As both a teacher and someone very dedicated to JSU, I am excited by the many ways UCW can help not only everyone who works at the university, but the students, too, by improving their learning environment,” said Mike Boynton, an associate professor of performance, directing and playwrighting in the school’s theater department, and former faculty senate president.

“What better way to support our amazing students than by supporting the amazing faculty and staff who work so hard for those students?” he asked.

University officials had no comment on the union, but organizers said school President Don Killingsworth had reached out seeking “clarification.”

Organizers also have circulated a survey on campus seeking input from workers. Ingwersen in an interview said they’ve gotten “a bunch of responses” from people “telling us a lot of stuff that’s going on at workplaces.”

He said several new members have signed up since the announcement, adding, “We’re excited about what’s going on.”

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Campus workers organize union at Jacksonville State University