HELU’s Wall-to-Wall & Coast-to-Coast Report: May 2026

From Levin Kim, HELU Chair and member of UAW 4121:

What’s next?

In the months leading up to May Day, higher ed workers from coast to coast built power around a simple but powerful set of demands to assert a worker-centered vision for higher ed. More importantly, workers, students, and alumni on campuses and metro areas used May Day actions to launch, develop, and strengthen coalitions – building the coordination structures necessary to take on shared fights at the campus, metro, state, and federal levels. 

• Solidarity with UIC-GEO grad workers on strike
• Loyola University Chicago: Email Officials to Demand they Deliver Faculty a Fair Contract
• Support Harvard grad workers on strike
• Don’t Let California Public Funds Bankroll Attacks on Higher Ed
• Support Hampshire College Staff and Faculty
• UC Merced: We Demand Equitable Instructional Budget for Students and Faculty
• Tell Johns Hopkins: Meet TRU’s Demands

HELU asks: In the current political situation, how does the union protect the work of its members?

Robert Cassanello: It varies depending on what level we are talking about. In Florida, at all of the UFF chapters, we have CBAs, Collective Bargaining Agreements, or contracts. Each chapter negotiates their own contract which includes rights and privileges. These are enforced through grievances, which is pretty routine. That’s how it works on the chapter level. The statewide level is different. On the statewide level, we offer assistance if contract enforcements get beyond the means of the local. It’s really member-driven. We can come in with legal assistance. We can also provide messaging, like messages to our members about how to deal with ICE.

HELU asks: Were the 2024 encampments a turning point in higher ed?

Lauren Lassabe Shepherd: I wouldn’t say the encampments themselves were the turning point, but the response of college administrators was certainly revelatory. The crackdown against students was a bi-partisan effort, if you will, of political representatives and college leadership.

At the AFT National Convention in Washington, DC on July 16-19, 2026, the Adjunct/Contingent Caucus will present a resolution calling for AFT to create model language and legislation for Due Process rights for Contingent faculty.

This resolution is backed by contingent activists and has been endorsed by both the CFT and PSC CUNY Exec. It will go to the convention higher ed committee.  If approved and prioritized, it will go to the floor of the convention.

• HELU May General Assembly (Delegates Only)
  • May 21 (7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4 PT)
• College for All Jubilee School with Debt Collective
  • May 21 (8-9.30pm EDT): Moving Towards Solutions with Marshall Steinbaum
  • June 4 (8-9.30pm EDT): Divesting the University from State Violence with Hannah Appel
  • June 18 (8-9.30pm EDT): Funding Free College by Taxing the Rich with Max Page
  • July 9 (8-9.30pm EDT): University Governing Boards – Autocrats or Puppets? With Timothy Kaufman-Osborn and Constance Penley
  • July 16 (5-6.30pm EDT): Democratizing Knowledge Creation Beyond the University with Jennifer Ruth and Karim Mattar
  • July 23 (8-9.30pm EDT): The Fight for a Free CUNY with Conor Tomás Reed, Noelle Mapes, and Travis S.
  • July 30 (5-6.30pm EDT): A History of the Fight for Free College with Mark Huelsman and Michelle Miller-Adams
  • August 13 (7.30pm-9pm EDT): How to Win with Aissa Canchola-Bañez and Sara Garcia
• 2026 Labor Notes Conference
  • June 12-14; Join us at a Higher Ed Workers Happy Hour – Friday, June 12 at 7pm at Crust Brewing near the convention hotel. We’ll also have a table, stop by for a sticker! Let us know you’ll be there.

• Hands Off Higher Ed: May Day 2026 with Anne Balay – American Campus Podcast
• Penn State faculty vote ‘yes’ on unionizing – WPSU
• UC, union reach last-minute deal, hours before 40,000 workers were set to strike – Sacramento Bee
• ‘We want to be paid a living wage’: Graduate student workers at UIC go on strike – Chicago Tribune
• A University Is Scraping Course Materials for Its New AI Platform. It Didn’t Ask the Faculty – Chronicle of Higher Education
• Lecturers’ union insists that humans teach UC classes – Davis Enterprise
• SEIU 925 librarians and press staff reach tentative labor agreement, avoiding one-day strike – The Daily
• Rutgers unions condemn cancellation of CEO grad speech – NorthJersey.com
• More than 300 Illinois State University workers end monthlong strike after ratifying new contract – CBS News
• Faculty union ratifies collective bargaining agreement with Tulane, first of its kind – Tulane Hullabaloo
• Faculty unions at St. John’s University file charges against school administration – National Catholic Reporter
• Yale postdoctoral researchers vote overwhelmingly to unionize – Yale Daily News
• Grad-Student Unions Are Demanding Colleges Help Protect Students From Deportation – Chronicle of Higher Education

We invite you to support HELU’s work by making a direct financial contribution. While HELU’s main source of income is solidarity pledges from member organizations, these funds from individuals help us to grow capacity as we work to align the higher ed labor movement.