“UO Works Because We Do!” — The UO Student Workers’ Strike Through Social Media
From April 28 to May 7, the University of Oregon Student Workers union was on strike, withholding their labor from workplaces across the university’s campus, from dining halls and coffee outlets to museums and tutoring services. The union, affiliated with the international union United Auto Workers (UAW), had been bargaining with the university’s administration for almost a year when they held a strike authorization vote in March.
With a 94.5% “yes” vote on the strike authorization vote that ended on March 14, the union declared their intent to strike on April 17, 11 days before the first day of the strike.
Campus Confusion and Camaraderie
Though the union posted “FAQ” posts on their Instagram, many on campus didn’t know why the union was striking. On Reddit, there were conversations on both the r/Eugene and r/UofO Reddit pages about the strike, from questions about what students were asking for to discussions about the university’s responses to the strike.
One user on Reddit was a former student worker at the university and shared their experience and support for the striking workers.
Another user on Reddit, who seemed to be a parent of a UO student, commented on the r/Eugene page and said “Hugs to you and the other student workers…As a former Executive Union Steward. Do not back down. Do not agree to their demands and don’t let them take money away from you.”
Comments like this showed how far-reaching the impacts of the strike were on campus and beyond, reaching the families of students and affecting conversations across the country.
Support for the striking workers even came from legislators, with State Representative Lisa Fragala, Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger, and former Eugene mayor Kitty Piercy joining a rally and giving speeches in support of the union on the steps of Johnson Hall, Friday, May 2.
Union Solidarity
The student workers on strike weren’t alone in their fight for fair wages and harassment protections. Supporters from other unions on campus and in Lane County joined student workers on the picket line outside Johnson Hall, the Administration Building on campus, throughout the week.
Members of United Academics, the faculty union on campus, joined throughout the week with signs of support. Notably, the faculty union narrowly avoided a strike at the beginning of Spring Term this year, coming to an agreement on their next contract the night before classes started.
The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, the graduate employee union on campus, also joined the UOSW picket line during the week. On May 1 — also known as May Day, a national day of remembrance and protest for the labor movement — GTFF also held a rally off campus. GTFF also faced down with the university’s administration in the last year, avoiding a GE strike during Fall Term of 2024.
In the News
UOSW-UAW is the largest undergraduate student worker union at a public university in the United States. Representing around 3,800 student workers on campus, a strike that large was bound to make headlines. Reporters and outlets across the Eugene-Springfield area covered the strike and shared headlines and updates about the strike across social media.
Disruptions to deliveries, a point of contention between the university and striking workers, was one of the many narrative parts of the strike picked up by local news outlets.
Those disruptions, like the ones shared in the post below from UOSW’s Instagram, showed workers from the local Teamsters union respecting the UOSW-UAW’s picket line, something they are legally allowed to do under their contract. The battle of the strike’s narrative was one fought through communications strategies, from strongly worded emails from the university administration to union informational posts that spread across student Instagram stories like wildfire.
Student Spirits Stay Strong
During the first week of the strike, the University of Oregon administration issued Code of Conduct investigation notices to several striking workers who had been known leaders and recipients of violations in the past. The administration also prorated Resident Assistant housing charges to striking RA’s accounts and zeroed out their meal points despite the payment structure for the position never working on a day-to-day payment basis before.
In the face of such retaliation from the university, a group of student workers held a study-in that turned into a sit-in inside Johnson Hall on Monday, May 5. A group of over 50 student workers stayed in the building after it closed in order to protest the university’s refusal to include third-party arbitration for harassment and discrimination complaints in the contract with the union. In response, the university called in riot police from the Eugene Police Department to intimidate and disperse the peaceful students.
After students left the building, bargaining continued into the night, ending around 2:00 AM. Over the next two days, full-day bargaining sessions took place, and on the evening of Wednesday, May 7, the union announced they’d come to a Tentative Agreement with the university.
Workers returned to work on Friday, May 9, and on Wednesday, May 14, union members finished six days of voting and ratified the contract, ringing in a new era of labor rights on campus.
