Graduate Student Workers at the University of Southern California Have Won a Union
The unionization wave in higher ed continues apace, with grad student workers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles winning a union election in mid-February. Jacobin spoke to USC worker-organizers about their win and their contract demands.
Grad student workers at the University of Southern California after voting yes on a union, February 16, 2023. (GSWOC-UAW USC / Twitter)
On February 17, the Graduate Student Worker Organizing Committee–United Auto Workers University of Southern California (GSWOC-UAW USC) announced that it won its National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union election at USC by a 93 percent margin. USC grad workers join a wave of recent union victories at private universities across the United States, including Yale, Northwestern, and Johns Hopkins. The USC union election also comes on the heels of a massive academic workers’ strike across the public University of California system. Jacobin’s Sara Wexler spoke with two GSWOC-UAW worker-organizers about their effort and what comes next.
Sara Wexler
Can you tell me why you’ve been fighting for a union at USC?
Yoni Hirshberg
First and foremost, the reason we’re looking to form a union at USC is to get an equal position at the bargaining table with the university and have a say in our working conditions. Right now our entire working conditions are determined by the university. Our pay, our class sizes, any sort of disciplinary procedures — it’s all decided without our input. With the union, we’ll be able to negotiate for higher wages and more, and have input into our working conditions.
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