On April 29, 2002, fifteen demonstrators at the University of Massachusetts Amherst occupied the office of the vice chancellor for student affairs while resident assistants (RAs) shouted through the walls of the university administration building: “We’re students, we’re workers, our voices must be heard.” The RAs demanded that UMass Amherst bargain with the first-ever independent undergraduate worker union, the Resident Assistant Union. The university flatly refused to bargain with the RAU despite the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations’ orders to do so. Those fifteen demonstrators were arrested along with twenty others, who had spontaneously blockaded the police bus from leaving the administration building.

This demonstration almost two decades ago was one of the first actions undertaken by a small but growing student worker movement. Since then, as the US higher education system has forced students to take on massive amounts of debt and work more hours — often for the universities that are impoverishing them — just to survive, student workers have begun to push back. Their struggle to unionize is now at a crossroads and offers important lessons for the labor movement.

Undergraduates work on almost every campus and in almost every campus sector across the country. They are usually underpaid and frequently asked to take on challenging and dangerous jobs. In some states, including New York and Virginia, undergraduates are legally allowed to be paid less than the state minimum wage. Despite their transient and precarious positions, undergraduates are fighting back against exploitation by organizing. Across the country, from UMass Amherst to Reed College, undergraduate workers in the dining halls, Residential Life offices, libraries, and classrooms have formed or attempted to form student worker unions.