Temple University's successful grad student strike offers lessons for academic labor organizers

Graduate student unions, like Oregon State University’s Coalition of Graduate Employees, use collective bargaining to allow student employees to successfully negotiate for fair wages, reasonable hours, and other terms of employment.

Digital communication is allowing American employees to unionize at large corporations. In conjunction with face-to-face organizing, and more positive perceptions of unions from the public, digital communication such as social media and text messaging has led to an increasing number of unions. The current pro-worker political climate and the transparency of poor working conditions through social media have also contributed to the rise in unionization.

Part 3 of the "Equity or Bust: Are Ontario's Public Schools a Model for Pennsylvania" Series: Ontario is widely lauded for its education system, celebrated for both high performance and relatively smaller achievement gaps between wealthy and poor students. One of the key factors to their success is rigorous preparation of and support for their teachers. Pennsylvania, meanwhile, struggles to find and retain educators.

In response to the low percentage of artists who are paid—even by large, prestigious museums—for exhibiting their work, the organization Working Artists and the Greater Economy (WAGE) advocates for fair pay for artists. This is done primarily by a “certification” program that calculates fair compensation for an artist based on the exhibiting institution’s operating budget and the type of labor executed by the artist.

As a continuance of the Fight for $15 and a Union southern chapter Raise Up, the Union of Southern Service Workers is a first-of-its-kind, cross-sector union that offers membership to fast food, retail, warehouse, care, and other service industry workers across southern states. With Black women emerging as leaders, these organizations have built a multigenerational, multiracial labor movement that sheds light on the realities low-wage service workers have faced for decades.

An association of cooperatives has provided fair labor practices and equity for almost 70 years. Members of the coops vote on critical decisions that impact working conditions. When business is booming, everyone does well and when times are hard, everyone has a reliable security net.

Liberty Cleaners co-created a curriculum to train immigrant women workers about tech education, green cleaning, and workers’ rights. As the first women-led workers’ hub in the country, the group is organizing and enabling its members with skills that can ensure they receive the fair wages, opportunities, and respect they deserve but are often denied.

Alternative licensure programs such as the Mississippi Teacher Corps allow people with a bachelor’s degree to earn a teaching license in the classroom through a combination of hands-on experience, coursework, and mentorship. Since its founding in 1989, the corps has placed more than 600 teachers in districts designated as “critical-shortage areas.”

In Monte Vista, Colorado, an elementary and a high school are improving teacher retention by building an environment that makes them feel heard, appreciated, and supported. The administrators take time to build relationships with teachers and students, check in with teachers on a regular basis, allow teachers to have a say in decision-making, and create teacher revitalization rooms.

Businesses and initiatives across the country are looking to support employees, employers, and unions together. One example is the Ironworkers Apprenticeship Program, a paid training program that is open to anyone regardless of their skills or previous experience. At the end of the four-year program, participants are completely certified for the ironworking trade at no cost. In fact, program participants are able to earn money while they learn and set themselves up for union jobs that provide good salaries and benefits, while filling the growing number of ironworking jobs.