Student workers push to unionize

More than 1,600 student workers at Washington State University are pushing for a new labor contract with better working conditions.

The Coalition of Academic Student Employees at the university, also known as WSU-CASE, officially filed a petition with the Public Employment Relations Commission to form a union last Wednesday. Student employees gathered across several of WSU’s campuses to deliver statements to university administrators and celebrate their progress.

The group, composed of undergraduate and graduate teaching and research assistants, as well as tutors, graders and others, hopes to secure greater protections and higher wages.

Claudia Skinner, an international graduate student and Ph.D. candidate in American studies at WSU, says many of her peers are struggling with poor compensation, inadequate health insurance and toxic work environments.

“There’s been support for a union and attempts to start campaigns at various points over the years at WSU, but things really came together in the last year,” she said. “The COVID-19 pandemic, wage inequality, racial discrimination — all of these sorts of issues really spurred people to create change.”

The coalition at WSU is one of a growing number of student employee unions across the country advocating for better working conditions.

In the past six months, the National Labor Relations Board reported a 60% increase in workers petitioning for union elections to take place.

“Seeing these unionization drives around the country, like at the University of California, University of Washington and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, provided a lot of momentum,” Skinner said. “We knew we were entering a movement with a lot of support and excitement. It’s an effort to ensure we have an equal say in determining our terms and conditions of employment.”

Priyanka Bushana, a research assistant studying neuroscience at WSU Spokane, first became involved with organization efforts about five years ago after experiencing ongoing harassment in an academic lab, which she said quickly devolved into a toxic work environment.

“I was frustrated with the conditions I faced in that lab, and I started talking to other graduate students and found a group who was interested in unionizing to create protections for the sorts of issues I went through,” Bushana said.

While she plans to graduate within the next few months, the protections she’s pushing for could have a lasting benefit for future student workers.

In the two years she participated in the lab, Bushana said she’s dealt with emotional and verbal abuse on a weekly basis. When a support system of other student employees began to develop, she realized she wasn’t alone.

“My mentor isolated me from the rest of campus and eventually the rest of my lab,” she said. “I didn’t have any control over my career or project at that point and it was a bad situation all around. A lot of graduate students are afraid to speak up for fear of retaliation or fear they’ll be pushed out of academia.”

According to Bushana, the end goal of unionization for academic student workers at WSU is to provide protections for their basic needs. She says employees who are well taken care of will be more focused on research, teaching and doing impactful work for the university.

“We want to make sure that we are not fighting for our lives and well-being at the same time as trying to finish a graduate degree,” Bushana said. “The thing that upset me most about leaving my first lab was that many of the other people I talked to — including faculty and more advanced students, like postdocs — told me they had either seen something similar happen or something similar had happened to them.”

Since filing to formally organize last Wednesday, the group is now waiting for authorities to verify a majority of employees have signed authorization cards.

Skinner says she’s confident the coalition will succeed and quickly move to negotiations.

“Really, what it comes down to is WSU and how they approach this process,” Skinner said. “We really hope they’ll respect our choice to unionize and we’ve invited them to come talk publicly about any concerns or objections they might have. We hope to proceed through certification without delay and get to the bargaining table right away.”

Phil Weiler, vice president of university marketing and communications at WSU, told the Daily News the university supports the right of workers to organize.

From observing similar movements across the country, Skinner said she’s aware of other institutions implementing delay tactics and various measures to prevent workers from organizing.

“Our plan is to just keep going,” she said. “We’ll probably have to continue taking action to win our union and a strong first contract, but we’re very confident about that. It’s about solidarity with our peers and colleagues.”

Sarah Fakhoury, a Ph.D. student studying computer science at WSU, said the work is only getting started.

She hopes to improve a wide range of conditions including pay, stipends, appointment security, protections for discrimination and harassment, health insurance and rights for international students.

“We want an equal say at the bargaining table to work together with our administration and make people’s lives better,” Fakhoury said. “This will have an impact on all future students. It’s really important that people feel supported, happy and mentally healthy during grad school, and this is a big step in that direction.”

Palermo can be reached at apalermo@dnews.com or on Twitter @apalermotweets.