WASHINGTON — Approximately 1,500 graduate and undergraduate teaching and research assistants and other workers at Washington State University (WSU) voted to form a union on Monday.
Collectively known as Academic Student Employees (ASE), the union is seeking to be recognized as a new bargaining unit known as the Coalition of Academic Student Employees/United Auto Workers (CASE/UAW).
The petition to form the union was first filed in May 2022 with the Public Employment Relations Commission and has overcome hurdles to be certified. According to a statement, WSU is currently the only major public research institution on the continental U.S. West Coast that does not have a union for student employees.
“We were only able to achieve this tremendous victory by never losing sight of our goal, and that is to create a more equitable WSU and make higher education a more inclusive space for everyone," Carla De Lira, an ASE in the Computer Science Department in Pullman said in a written statement.
De Lira said that by forming a union, student workers will have more power to make improvements in their lives, in the academic space, and for the communities that benefit from their research.
"Soon, we will begin gathering input on the most pressing problems ASEs are facing, from low compensation, to harassment and discrimination, to unequal treatment of international scholars, so that we can tackle those issues at the bargaining table—with an equal voice to the administration for the first time,” Ninh Khuu, an ASE studying Plant Pathology, said in a statement.
Sam Sumpter, President of UAW Local 4121, which represents ASEs and Postdocs at the University of Washington, also responded to the news.
“Our colleagues at WSU showed everyone what it looks like to come together against the odds, and win. We have their backs as they get set to bargain a strong first contract," Sumpter said in the statement.
The union represents nearly 100,000 academic workers, including 17,000 student researchers at the University of California and 1,500 research scientists/engineers at the University of Washington.
“Congratulations to student workers at WSU after a tremendous organizing effort. Their collective voices will be heard as they bargain their first contract and create more equitable and inclusive workplaces,” Ron McInroy, Director of UAW Region 4, said in a written statement.
WSU union's final certification is expected for next week. Find more information on WSU-CASE online.
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