Growing our union vision, Getting closer to our election!
Fellow student workers,
We’re excited as we get closer and closer to our union election! The next step is a hearing, slated to begin on Tuesday, May 14, where the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will hear testimony regarding Berea College administration’s challenges to our union and our right to organize. We know that the evidence is on our side and that we will prevail in this hearing. We also know that the College's legal challenges are purely delay tactics seeking to make us abandon our goals and vision for a Berea that works for all. Our positive vision for Berea continues to grow with our campaign as more and more of our fellow workers get involved. That includes you! We will keep you updated on the hearing outcomes. Again, it’s possible that we could have our union election over the summer with mail-in ballots, so update your mailing address here with where you’ll receive mail this summer so that you can receive your ballot from the NLRB; it just takes a minute.
SUMMER PLANS
We are planning to socialize this summer! Whether it’s with summer classes, incoming first-years, or our union siblings from United Campus Workers of KY at nearby EKU or UK, we want to gather to get to know one another and build our connections. Stay tuned for more on that, and let us know if you’d like to get involved in planning!
VISION
It IS pro-Berea to be pro-union. Our union campaign is an opportunity for both us and the College to live up to our values and to put the Great Commitment to “honor the dignity of labor” into practice. For that to happen in a real way, we first need to win a democratic voice in our union election. We look forward to prevailing in this hearing, to voting in our union election, and to good faith negotiations as we bargain our first contract and build a positive and collaborative relationship for the best interests of student workers and the College.
WE COULD BE BARGAINING NOW
Organizing a union, whether on a campus or at another workplace, is totally normal. Across the country, undergraduate student workers have unionized and continue to organize and bargain for a democratic voice in their working conditions. If the administration truly believed we should have a say in our work, there would be no hearing, we would have had our election already, and we could be bargaining now for dignity, autonomy, and respect for all student workers. We have the momentum on our side and we can make history together as the first wall-to-wall undergraduate student worker union in the South. Let’s keep building our union and vision for positive change at Berea.
On behalf of the United Student Workers of Berea-CWA Organizing Committee,
JaKalyn Griffin, Class of 2027, Cashier, Visitor Center
Indigo Behizadeh, Class of 2026, Reference Assistant, Hutchins Library