More than 1,400 student workers at Portland State University (PSU) are on track to become union members.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503 filed a petition Dec. 19 asking the state agency that oversees public employee collective bargaining to certify the new bargaining unit after it checks signed union authorization cards.
The unit would be the second group of undergraduate student employees to unionize at a public university in Oregon following University of Oregon.
Local 503 already represents around 800 campus administrative and facilities workers at PSU, many of whom interact with the student workers. Local 503 organizer Jamie Corban said existing members heard concerns from student workers and connected them with Local 503 in fall 2024. At the time, around 4,000 student workers at the University of Oregon were in the midst of bargaining after unionizing a year earlier. That inspired the PSU student workers, Corban said.
PSU student and lab assistant Calvin Rollins heard about the union campaign in December from a student worker canvassing for the union. Rollins — a second-year transfer student and former member of UA Local 290 — told the Labor Press he was motivated to get involved because of university administration’s cuts to classes, faculty, and programs like the diversity, equity, and inclusion office.
Adjunct instructors represented by the PSU Faculty Association (PSUFA) teamed up with student workers to visit classes for “class raps,” which are brief guest presentations in classes — even classes that are entirely unrelated to union organizing, but that may have student workers enrolled. Both sides shared updates on their campaigns: PSUFA’s for a new contract and student workers’ for a new union, PSUFA co-chair Erica Thomas said.
Wages and campus safety are priorities for the student workers, Corban and Rollins said. Most student workers make minimum wage or slightly higher.
The proposed student worker union would include resident assistants in dorms, child care providers, tutors, lab assistants, recreation center workers, and others.
SEIU Local 503 represents more than 70,000 Oregon workers in state agencies, home care, nursing homes, and higher education. PSU would be Local 503’s first unit of student workers.
SEIU and PSU are still reviewing employee lists to determine the exact count of undergraduate student workers, which is somewhere between 1,400 and 1,900.
In Oregon, public employees can request a union election if at least 30% of the members of the proposed bargaining unit sign cards saying they want an election. But public employees can skip the election process if more than half of the proposed unit members sign cards saying they want to be represented by the union.
Corban said Local 503 filed for both options. Depending on the final count of eligible workers, the union will either get an election or go straight to representing the students.
ALL-UNION CAMPUS??
Six unions already represent workers at PSU: American Association of University Professors (full-time faculty); PSU Faculty Association (part-time faculty); Graduate Employees Union (teaching and research assistants); SEIU Local 503 (campus administrative and facilities support workers); PSU Police Association (campus security); and International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (stagehands and riggers.)
