Students at the University of Oregon organized a historic strike, highlighting workplace discrimination and deteriorating conditions for student workers. Mae Bracelin, a key figure, exposed various injustices, including sexual assault and financial struggles faced by her colleagues. The union, emerging from the Young Democratic Socialists of America, gained significant support, with 97 percent of voting workers favoring the union. Despite challenges unique to student labor, they negotiated successfully for a contract that benefits all undergraduate student workers at public universities.
"I have seen the discrimination that my coworkers face. I have seen that my coworkers are unable to pay their rent at the end of the month, are unable to eat."
The union (UOSW-UAW) initially evolved from the university's chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America. Many members got campus jobs specifically to organize.
Of the workers that voted, 97 percent supported the union. The following May, they began bargaining with the university.
By and large, our union is made up of first-generation, marginalized people who need to work to go to school, who have never been told that they are worth a contract.
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