CSU student workers file for a union

Student employees in the California State University system announced Tuesday that they are one step closer to forming what they say would be the largest non-academic union of undergraduate student workers in the country.

The student assistants, with support from the SEIU-affiliated California State University Employees Union, have submitted more than 8,500 digital union cards signed by fellow student workers to the Public Employment Relations Board. That's more than enough to trigger a union vote.

Many CSU student assistants say they're financially independent and need a union to advocate for higher wages, more hours and paid time off for sickness and holidays. They work their student jobs, and sometimes outside gigs, in order to cover basic living expenses such as rent, transportation and groceries.

Any CSU campus department can hire students to assist full-time staffers with their work. Although the students often complete the same types of work as staffers, they don't receive any of the benefits or protections unionized workers have. If a student worker gets sick, they can't get sick pay. Unless they can afford to forgo the hours, they have to arrange to make up the time later.

The Tuesday announcement comes after months of back-and-forth discussions between the union and the university to determine how many student assistants are actually employed across the CSU's 23 campuses. That total number would determine how many signed union cards organizers needed to submit, since at least 30% of the represented employees must demonstrate support for a union in order to trigger an election.

Students submitted more than 4,000 signatures to PERB back in April in the hopes that they would have enough, and they continued gathering support throughout the summer. The union and university system finally agreed in early September that there were around 19,000 student assistants working for CSU, meaning the union would need at least 5,700 signatures to show the required 30% support.

CSU has until Oct. 12 to respond to PERB's finding that the students have proof of support for a union election. The board would then set a date for an election. That date would likely be in a few months.