Last semester, Occidental student workers voted in an election to join Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721, with pro-union votes of 85% in one unit and 87% in the other. The Occidental asked questions to SEIU Local 721 via email; Nora Kahn, the College’s general counsel via email; organizing committee members of Rising Occidental Student Employees (ROSE) Emma Galbraith (senior) and Siena Cawrse (sophomore)*; and E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics and Professor of Urban & Environmental Policy Peter Dreier.
Cecilia Grané (junior), president of Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC), said she has done her part in keeping in touch with union-related information.
“ASOC was not engaged in the student organizing for unionization,” Grané said. “I am continually working to deepen my understanding of what a student union will mean for Occidental.”
According to Kahn, SEIU Local 721 has not yet contacted Occidental to schedule an initial bargaining meeting, a necessary step to begin negotiating a contract between student workers and the college.
“The college is maintaining the status quo in student employment as much as possible until we have had an opportunity to bargain with SEIU over any proposed changes,” Kahn said.
In addition to Information for Student Workers, the College has published a new Union Updates webpage that claims to promote transparent information about discussions with union partners.
According to Dreier, staying aware of updates on the Information for Student Workers page is instrumental for all members of the Occidental community.
“We should all be monitoring that very closely to make sure that what they’re saying is accurate and up to date, and not propaganda,” Dreier said.
1. What is SEIU Local 721?
According to an email from SEIU Local 721, SEIU Local 721 is the largest public sector union in Southern California.
More than 1,000 students at Occidental College form two worker units with SEIU Local 721. One unit includes student employees working directly for the college, such as resident assistants, tutors, translators, lifeguards and researchers. The second unit consists of students who work for student-run services and programs like Bike Share, The Green Bean Coffee Lounge, the Food Energy and Sustainability Team and more. Both worker units at Occidental College voted to join SEIU Local 721 last semester.
According to the Information for Student Workers page, neither unit may include managerial or supervisory roles under federal law.
2. What is the affiliation between Rising Occidental Student Employees (ROSE) and SEIU Local 721?
According to Kahn, Occidental student workers are represented by SEIU Local 721, not ROSE. ROSE is a group of students organizing for union representation and is not the union itself.
SEIU Local 721 said ROSE is a grassroots campaign that fights for fair, equitable working conditions and a just campus. Last semester, ROSE leaders campaigned for their colleagues to join SEIU Local 721. Occidental student workers’ vote to unionize was ratified on June 12.
“ROSE aims to represent all student workers on campus,” Cawrse said. “We are trying to democratically change our working conditions for the better.”
Kahn said that the college intends to be as transparent as possible about the progress of negotiations and to regularly update the community, consistent with the National Labor Relations Act.
“The college is required to avoid direct dealing with represented student workers,” Kahn said. “We will often need to communicate with and through the union and reserve discussions about students’ term and conditions of employment for the formal bargaining process.”
3. What does it mean to be a member of the union? What are the key rights a union member should know?
SEIU Local 721 said student workers should know it is illegal for any employer — including Occidental College — to discipline or discriminate against employees for their protected union activity, such as participating in labor rallies or meetings, joining union leadership or expressing support for the union.
“Union employees gain the right to collective bargaining, which means employers must negotiate with union workers in good faith over pay, hours and other terms of employment through the bargaining process,” SEIU Local 721 said.
4. Who will be leading the negotiations? What is SEIU’s role in assisting student unionization at Occidental College?
SEIU Local 721 said they will provide legal and staff support for Occidental College student workers throughout the negotiation process, but Occidental student workers will be responsible for leading them.
“Student workers in both units plan to negotiate their first contracts with the college soon, and they will lead on all aspects of the process — including drafting contract proposals, providing updates to colleagues about bargaining, rallying fellow student workers to act if needed and more,” SEIU Local 721 said.
5. How are the bargaining committees being selected?
According to Cawrse and Galbraith, ROSE released a bargaining survey after unionization. In addition, student workers are encouraged to sign the Occidental College Union Authorization Card that authorizes SEIU Local 721 to bargain on their behalf.
Although ROSE is collecting survey results on behalf of the union, the organizing committee of ROSE is not dictating union demands, Galbraith said.
The bargaining survey collects nominations for bargaining representatives and demands for negotiations, as well as gathering feedback on various topics concerning working conditions, wages, hours worked, financial aid and economic challenges.
“At the end of the bargaining survey, the workers can nominate someone in their department to the bargaining committee, which is the main body that will be in negotiations,” Cawrse said. “Every student worker is encouraged and welcomed to come to the bargaining meetings.”
SEIU Local 721 said that bargaining team nominations are already being collected through the bargaining survey, and student worker leaders plan to release election details soon.
“The elected bargaining teams will analyze and review the responses and use them to guide drafting contract proposals and developing priorities at the bargaining table,” SEIU Local 721 said.
6. What typically happens during negotiations, and what comes out of negotiations? Where in the negotiation process are the college and the union?
SEIU Local 721 said that workers and employers set times to meet and negotiate over contract proposals. Once the two sides reach a tentative agreement for a contract, workers vote on it. If most voting members approve the contract, it will go into effect at a date agreed upon by the employer and the bargaining unit.
According to Kahn, the bargaining process typically begins with the union issuing an information request, seeking data and documents that are designed to help the union understand the current working conditions. She said that once the information stage is complete, the union and the college will agree on an initial meeting date.
Galbraith said that the union has been requesting information from the college to prepare for negotiations.
Kahn said that the College has already responded to the union’s initial set of questions by providing several categories of information and documents specific to about 2,000 student positions for each of three fiscal years.
According to Kahn, once negotiations begin, the union and college will appoint individuals to attend the meetings, typically four to six people in each team. The teams then meet regularly over a period of months.
“If the parties reach a proposed agreement, SEIU will then present it to the eligible student worker population for ratification (by vote),” Kahn said. “The resulting contract will then govern the terms and conditions of all represented student workers going forward and will be renewed or renegotiated on a set schedule, typically once every few years.”
SEIU Local 721 said negotiations end with a union contract, which will win better pay, stronger benefits, grievance processes and more for employees, as well as establish workers’ rights.
7. According to the Information for Student Workers page, it is stated that the timing for a collective bargaining agreement to be in place is “uncertain, although it often takes a year or more to negotiate a first collective bargaining agreement.” What is the reasoning concerning this estimated timeline?
According to Kahn, this timeline is based on precedent from first collective bargaining agreements at other colleges and universities where students have unionized. Drafting a clear, usable and comprehensive collective bargaining agreement is not a quick or easy process. Occidental and its student workers have unique and complex issues to address through bargaining. The two student bargaining units together encompass a wide variety of positions, each of which may have specific circumstances and requests to be considered. It takes time to properly discuss these issues at the bargaining table, reach an agreement and document that agreement.
8. If a student worker is a member of the union but is not a representative of the bargaining committee, what can they do to support their union?
“To win a strong contract, all student workers must be active in the process and make their voices heard,” SEIU Local 721 said, “We encourage all Occidental student workers who want to get more involved to join their units’ Contract Action Teams, which will support the contract campaigns in various way.”
According to SEIU Local 721’s Bargaining Basics page, the Contract Action Team (CAT) helps lead contract campaigns by distributing information to members of the union from the bargaining table, connecting union members with the bargaining team and mobilizing members to win a strong contract. In other words, CAT bridges general union members with the bargaining team.
“We’re so proud of Occidental College’s student workers and the amazing campaign that they led to join SEIU Local 721, ” David Green, SEIU Local 721 president said. “Their fellow SEIU Local 721 members will support them all the way as they bargain for their first contract. We call on Occidental College to negotiate in good faith.”
*Siena Cawrse (sophomore) is a former employee of The Occidental
Contact Isabella Villagomez and Renee Ye at ivillagomez@oxy.edu and rye@oxy.edu
