Chair’s Message

Levin Kim, Chair, HELU and member, UAW 4121 Staff, faculty, university healthcare workers, facilities & maintenance workers, research workers, academic advisors – we carry out the crucial everyday work that keeps our campuses running. It’s time we had a say in shaping the future of our sector in order to build a world that actually […]

From Levin Kim, HELU Chair and member of UAW 4121, student workers, researchers and postdocs at the University of Washington Over the first six months in office, the Trump Administration attempted to gut funding for crucial research, attack immigrant and non-citizen workers, curtail academic freedom and freedom of speech, and more. These attacks on higher

June 2025 HELU Chair’s Message From Levin Kim, HELU Chair As we fight back against the Trump Administration’s budget reconciliation bill, we need to be united and prepared to face the attacks on higher education that will inevitably come this fall, whatever shape they may take. By revoking federal funding for higher education and pushing increased costs

From Mia McIver, HELU Chair, UC-AFT Local 1474 Dear HELU Members and Friends, As higher ed workers, many of us are experiencing mounting attacks on our scientific research, humanistic inquiry, and politico-socio-cultural analysis, not to mention our very personhood. The premises of our common educational project–knowledge, expertise, teaching, and learning–are targets of suspicion, while our

From Mia McIver, HELU Chair, UC-AFT Local 1474 Dear HELU Members and Friends, During our November 2024 General Assembly meeting, HELU delegates from around the country took stock of our current situation. Higher ed staff, student workers, contingent faculty, and tenure-line faculty from public and private institutions, from community colleges, state schools, and research universities,

From Mia McIver, HELU Chair, UC-AFT Local 1474 Dear HELU Members and Friends, On October 28th, HELU will take the next step to realize the platform for higher ed laid out in the Statement of Unity. We’re convening a national Higher Ed Votes event to inspire and re-energize you and your co-workers in the home stretch

From Mia McIver, HELU Chair, UC-AFT Local 1474 Dear HELU Members and Friends, This month, HELU reached a momentous milestone. On September 16th at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP), we rolled out a national Statement of Unity calling for full federal funding of public higher education, expanded access for students, and sustainable working conditions

The following remarks were delivered on Monday, September 16 at the press conference held at Community College of Philadelphia to announce the Statement of Unity. My name is Mia McIver. I teach as a contingent faculty member at UCLA. I serve as the elected chair of Higher Ed Labor United. HELU is a nationwide coalition

Coalition for Change: HELU’s Work in Summer 2024 From Mia McIver, HELU Chair, UC-AFT Local 1474 Dear HELU Members and Friends, Since our Founding Convention in May 2024, HELU leaders have been hard at work carrying forward our wall to wall and coast to coast vision for higher education as a public good. We’ve been