On Oct. 20, Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation and University of Oregon Student Workers gathered in front of Johnson Hall to protest a better work environment. On Oct. 25, UOSW received enough votes to be a certified union, enabling the ability to move forward with the bargaining process with UO. (Coda/Emerald)
The UO Student Workers Union gained new implementation updates on Feb. 21, highlighting the changes made to officially enforce the Weingarten rights for all student employees.
UOSW Union organizer Carolyn Roderique explained that it took time for the university to officially announce these new implementations. Disagreements over some of the Weingarten rights led to a back-and-forth between UOSW and UO. However, it resulted in the university conceding that student workers have Weingarten rights.
“It’s one of those things where legally we had the right all along, we just had to push them to acknowledge the right,” Roderique said. “I think they should’ve been aware of our rights and not had to make this big announcement, but I think it is good that a lot of supervisors in workplaces haven’t been giving us trouble about other things we have rights to.”
The Weingarten rights give student workers the right to have a union steward or a representative present to ask questions and observe during any investigatory interviews or questioning. This will apply when a student worker has a reasonable belief that discipline may result from their words, as these rights do not apply to situations unrelated to discipline.
“I totally think that it would give me security because it gives me a group of team members that are willing to work with me in my union and will help me in whichever case I’m being investigated upon,” UO student worker Nolan Spenker said. “It will help me have backup teammates to work with.”
Other implementation updates include the ability to remove posters that violate the building policy or poster requirements. Additionally, UOSW posters are now allowed up on walls anywhere in workplaces that previously prevented it.
“Previously, we had issues with the posters being taken down in workplaces or being told we need to go through a school approval process,” Roderique said. “So we have been having difficulty with that, but it was solved through a couple meetings.”
Another update states that the UOSW has the right to present at new student-employee orientations for at least 30 minutes. Roderique thinks that this will increase UOSW’s visibility and let students know about their Weingarten rights during orientation.
Andre Barrera, a student worker who began working at Dux Bistro in October 2023, recalls receiving good training but doesn’t really understand certain rights he has as an employee.
“They give pretty good training where I work at, so there’s not really any training that they’re lacking,” Barrera said.
Roderique acknowledges these implementations are legal rights that student workers have had all along and is glad they no longer need to fight over them.
“I think having more visibility is good as we go into our contract fight,” Roderique said. “But again, it’s not like a super big change for us. It just helps that we don’t have to constantly fight managers over it because now supervisors know our rights.”
