PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Temple University resident assistants and peer mentors have voted unanimously to unionize, an effort that started more than a year ago.
Similar unionizations had already taken place at the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and Swarthmore College, but Tuesday night’s 97-0 vote to unionize with OPEIU Local 153 makes Temple RAs and PMs the first undergraduate workers union at a public university in Pennsylvania.
Kamil Rozanski, a senior and third-year RA, said he and his colleagues need firmer job descriptions and expectations, as well as compensation for out-of-title work.
“There’s a lot of stuff that you’re not prepared for … before you step in the role, like stuff they might not tell you. Stuff that might come up that, [from] your training, you wouldn’t expect,” he said. “We’re students at the end of the day, but we’re also working for the university, and it’s not fair if they can take advantage of us sometimes.”
“It’s building on a whole movement of student workers who, in the past, weren’t even seen as employees and had no rights, who are breaking through just within the last few years,” said OPEIU Local 153 lead organizer Scott Williams.
That blurred line between employee and student led to a conflict between the university and the union, Williams said, when administrators tried to intervene during a rally last October. The union responded with an unfair labor practice charge, which it withdrew in order to get the election RAs have been seeking for more than a year.
Williams said they have certain benefits they plan to bargain for once contract negotiations begin.
“We’re trying to build equity through staffing ratios. We’re trying to have a clear job description, and if they’re asked to do out-of-title work, that they’re compensated for that,” he said.
In a statement, Temple University said, “Last spring, we informed our student resident assistants, peer mentors and executive board members of the Residence Hall Association that we would recognize their definition of a bargaining unit, and today, following an official election, they have gained recognition as a collective bargaining unit.
“Temple has a long history of positive working relationships with all its 11 collective bargaining units, and we look forward to enjoying the same type of productive relationship with Temple Union of RAs (TURA). We deeply value the contributions of these students and will always be committed to providing them with outstanding leadership opportunities and learning experiences.”