Trying something new! What you’re looking at / listening to here is a trial run of O.C. Dispatches: audio news reports in the public radio tradition, but here on this newsletter!
Chris and I went down to the strike line at Clark University yesterday (we’ll be putting up a full episode soon). I brought a portable audio interface and a mic with me—a poor man’s approximation of the rig NPR reporters use—then I got back and spent the whole day assembling this news spot. I had a lot of fun doing it. It’s interesting to write in a DAW (digital audio workstation) as opposed to a document. And the audio B-roll element adds something to a story like this that text simply couldn’t. Let me know what you think!
And if you enjoyed it please share it with someone you think will also enjoy it!
I’d love to do more of these. Below is a condensed written version. But first…
This story is a good example of the constant experimentation in the form of local journalism we’re allowed to do here at Worcester Sucks, because—and only because!—of all the paid subscribers that support this outlet. Each paid subscription translates to more time and energy we can dedicate to this work. It’s $5 to you, but means the world to us. Please consider upgrading to paid!
Undergraduate strike at Clark approaches one week mark
On the sixth day, they made noise. Lots of noise. The line was lively Wednesday afternoon as the undergraduate student worker strike approached the first-week milestone.
Student workers at Clark University set out on strike last Friday, backed by a local chapter of the Teamsters.
Video by cohost Chris Robarge / The SYC Mutual Aid Fund For Strikers
Hour cuts and stagnating wages triggered a months-long unionization drive among the university’s 700-odd union workers. Clark graduate students formed a union a few years ago, and now the undergraduates are following suit. They want their own chapter, allowing them to collectively bargain with the university administration.
I arrived at the strike line on Wednesday afternoon to find dozens of students lining the sidewalks, all facing the windows of a university building as they chanted, banged five gallon drums, blew horned instruments—there were even a few drum kits.
I’d later learn that inside that building, the administration was holding an all-faculty meeting. Inside, the president was apparently discussing his seven figure salary—so much so that some professors walked out, according to a few people in the room.
While grad student workers unions are more common feature of campus life in recent years, an undergraduate unions are decidedly rare. But that’s changing. From 2022 to 2024, the number of such unions across the country jumped from two to more than a dozen. Most are at small, private universities like Clark, but some are massive: 20,000 student workers across the California state college system, for instance, and 4,000 at the University of Oregon.
At Clark, undergrads have everything they need except the university's recognition—hence the strike. The main demand is for what’s called a card check neutrality agreement. That means if the majority of Clark’s 700 undergraduate workers sign union cards, the university recognizes the union, and the union then has power to collectively bargain.
The university has thus far refused, maintaining that students are not by definition workers and therefore cannot unionize. Students, for their part, say the university’s stance is at odds with a 2016 National Labor Review Board decision that says undergraduate student workers are workers. Among the strikers, the shorthand for this was “Columbia 2016.”
The university administration seems to disagree. Several weeks ago, per the Clark Scarlet, Clark’s lawyer, Damien DiGiovanni, released a statement contending that students are not employees. He cited a 1976 NLRB decision to the effect, saying it was quote “wrongly overturned in 2016.”
“It is Clark University’s position that students, and most undoubtedly undergraduate students, are primarily students. As such, some or all of the students in the Petitioned-for unit are not statutory employees under Section 2(3) of the Act.
Even if some or all of the students listed in the Petition are Section 2(3) employees, they do not constitute an appropriate unit for collective bargaining, pursuant to the Board’s holding in San Francisco Art Institute, 226 NLRB 1251 (1976), and similar Board precedent, which was wrongly overturned in 2016.”
In a statement released yesterday afternoon, the university doubled down, saying Clark “does not support unionization among undergraduates.”
Regarding unionization, we understand and respect that some of our undergraduate students feel strongly about union representation, and we support your right to express those views. At the same time, the University has a differing view, and it is our responsibility to convey it. As we have shared, the University regards undergraduate students first and foremost as students – you are here at Clark above all to study and learn and pursue your academic interests and passions. Consistent with that, the University does not support unionization among undergraduates, including through a card check process which the Teamsters formally requested on March 17.
What the University supports and what we are determined to pursue is wider and more regular interaction around these issues. Our ability to respond to concerns depends upon open, candid conversation. To that end, today, I am sharing with you five concrete steps the University is taking to strengthen communication, engagement, and action with our undergraduate students.
In other words: they’re not budging.
Instead, they’ve proposed five “concrete steps”: listening sessions, “facilitated dialogue,” a “student employment advisory committee,” an employment survey and a “clear action plan” for “addressing concerns and enhancing the experience for undergraduate students in paid positions at Clark.”
Okay! They still want their union recognized though… How’s that for a concrete step?
Help support the striking workers: The SYC Mutual Aid Fund For Strikers and other resources. The union’s Twitter and Instagram.
If you liked this first O.C. Dispatch please share it far and wide!
And add this podcast to a podcast player and leave a review there while you’re at it: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Overcast, Pocket Casts.
Aaaaaand consider supporting this outlet if you’re able!
Venmo a tip / Paypal a Tip / Send a tip on Ko-Fi / Merch Store
—Outro music: A re-arrangement by yours truly of “Roaming The Cosmic Winds” by Mystic Realm, Worcester-based dungeon synth project by Kevin Fitzgerald.
Share this post