Up until recently, only student workers who did academic work — like teaching assistants and graduate students doing research — could unionize in Washington.
Now, a new state law allows other kinds of student workers, including front desk attendants, lifeguards and custodial staff, to unionize. But that law only applies at Western Washington University in Bellingham.
Academic student employees at universities, including Western, have had the right to unionize since a law passed in 2023. But no provision had been made for other kinds of workers on campus.
Students didn’t think that was fair.
“The people who pick up your trash, the people who clean when you leave a space are also just as important to the way the university functions,” said Kaitlyn Minnotte, who is on the bargaining committee for Western Academic Workers United. That union has officially represented Western academic student workers and now also represents other workers, called operational student employees.
Minnottee said she hopes this sets a precedent for other universities to follow. When the bill became law on March 18, the university had to recognize the workers immediately. The union and university began bargaining on the contract for all WAWU members earlier this month.
“When one group of workers that is disadvantaged is able to enshrine their power, that does make it easier for them to also lift others up,” Minnotte said.
Western administration was in support of the bill, saying in a statement that it “helps ensure parity and consistency for all student employees.”
“We value the important contributions student employees make to our campus community and remain committed to fostering a fair, supportive, and collaborative work environment for every student who works at Western,” wrote John Thompson, senior director of University Communications at Western.
Bargaining phase
Students had tried to get the bill passed twice before, but a high fiscal note attached to it from the university wouldn’t fly in the Legislature. Aspen Cates-Doglio is the student body president at Western and a former member of the operational student employees negotiating team. Cates-Doglio said this time around, Western didn’t ask the state for any funding to support this law, taking it on themselves.
“ That is solely because of the power that Western's union has built,” Cates-Doglio said.
Eddie Church, who is the organizing chair of WAWU and a graduate teaching assistant in the environmental science department, said the union opted to establish a new joint contract for both academic and operational student employees.
Church said the top priorities for this contract are wage increases, dental and vision coverage in insurance plans and an article in the contract about how the university will protect and respond to workers who may be going through immigration proceedings. Part of that article would ensure that workers going through immigration proceedings could keep their jobs.
