More than 1,000 Western Washington University student employees file to unionize
More than 1,000 Operation Student Employees of Western Washington University filed to unionize on Wednesday, Dec. 13, citing ongoing struggles with low and late pay, unsafe work environments and unpredictable schedules.
The students — about 1,100 altogether — filed with majority support at the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) and delivered a letter to Western’s administration requesting recognition for their union, Western Academic Workers United-UAW (WAWU-UAW), according to an announcement made by the students.
They will be the first unionized student employees in Washington doing work other than academic work, the announcement states.
“We are really excited to have collected so much support for our union in just a few months,” said University Advancement Office student employee Kaylee Thomas in the announcement. “It’s a testament to how urgent the need for our union is. We hope Western won’t put up any delays so that we can get to bargaining and address the issues we face like low pay and a lack of safety measures and training.”
The Western Washington University administration declined to provide a statement in response to the filing.
“The WWU administration won’t have further input on this matter at this time,” said Western Washington University Director of Communications Jonathan Higgins in an email to The Bellingham Herald.
Operational Student Employees include program support staff, recreation assistants, clerks, laborers, lifeguards, resident advisors, assistants and editors.
The group includes hundreds of undergraduate students from every program.
“Many of the jobs Operational Student Employees do are behind the scenes, but that doesn’t mean they are any less important,” student fitness trainer Abbi Matthews said in the announcement. “Western works because we do. All workers deserve to be paid fairly and on time, and trained appropriately so they don’t get hurt on the job. In turn, better working conditions will allow us to focus on our work which sustains us in the higher education pipeline.”
A group of 1,100 Western Washington University Educational Student Employees made up of tutors, teaching assistants and research assistants filed to unionize last year and are in the middle of bargaining their first contract.
“With this filing by OSEs, there will be wall-to-wall representation of all student workers at Western. Some workers might be an OSE one year and an ESE another, or even both at the same time. ESEs and OSEs have been working together in this effort to improve working conditions at Western and higher education on the whole,” the announcement states.
