HELU Blog

 Brianne Kramer, Ph.D. SUU AFT Chapter President, UCC Chapter #4738 Utah had a public sector collective bargaining enabling law, then it was repealed (“amended”) and then that was “amended” too! In 2025, the Utah State Legislature passed HB 267 S1 which, among other things: prohibits a public employer from recognizing a labor organization as a […]

Ian Gavigan, HELU Executive Director On January 9 and 10, more than 150 delegates representing 55 union locals from the nine states of the Northeast — Pennsylvania to Maine — gathered in Amherst, MA for HELU’s first-ever “Northeast Regional Bargaining Summit.”  The summit aimed to build a sense of community and solidarity, to develop delegates’

Anna Kornbluh, Professor of English at University of Illinois Chicago and Delegate to HELU from UIC United Faculty Local 6456 Understanding institutions, budgets, political power, and cultural trends is often necessary for effective contract proposals and negotiations. Some faculty specialize in accounting, some study higher education governance, some track rhetorical and creative representations and perceptions

Mike Budd, United Faculty of Florida and HELU delegate As the Trump administration’s violent assaults on every part of American democracy meet increasing resistance, its attempted takeover of higher education, including through little-known but vital institutions of college and university accreditation, is also encountering growing resistance. Faculty, students and other campus workers organized through the

Holly Clarke, Member, HELU’s Contingency Task Force, Adjunct Lecturer, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY (PSC-CUNY), PSC Delegate Corinna Mullin, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Brooklyn College, CUNY (PSC-CUNY), Member of the Fired Four (recently rehired), PSC Delegate Joseph G. Ramsey, Chair, HELU’s Contingency Task Force, Senior Lecturer, University of Massachusetts Boston, Delegate to HELU, Faculty

From Anne Balay, Incoming General Member of HELU Steering Committee On December 5 & 6, the city of Detroit and Wayne State University hosted the incoming and outgoing HELU steering committee, other electeds, and staff for a strategic planning retreat and lesson handover. Many of us had roots in Detroit, and it was the perfect

From Brendan McGovern, UUP Binghamton Chapter President While attending a scheduled immigration hearing on October 29, 2025, Upstate Medical Center UUP member Alex Ramírez González and CSEA member Yan Vázquez, a married couple who fled repression in Cuba, were seized by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Both men followed the law and appeared for their

From Bret Benjamin, HELU Steering Committee, UUP State University of New York System. To win the higher education system we want will require national, coordinated, multi-union organizing campaigns that build collective power across the sector. As one important step towards this broader goal, HELU is organizing a Northeast Regional Bargaining Summit in Amherst, MA on

Each of these projects grew organically out of a felt need as we set out on our wall-to-wall and coast-to-coast organizing project. Steering committee members, delegates, and at-large members then stepped up to make them happen. In some cases (international worker organizing, for example) projects have been paused; in others (May Day 2026-2028) organizing has

By Juliet Cassone Saxton, UCWAZ UA Chapter Secretary; Asa Henry, UCWAZ NAU Chapter Vice Chair Elect; and Justine Hecht, UCWAZ Local Secretary and a HELU Delegate In October 2025, the Trump Administration took its next swing at higher education — offering nine universities a Compact for Higher Education. The compact was a poorly attempted bribe