HELU Blog

From TJ Acena, HELU Secretary-Treasurer and member of AFSCME Local 328 On August 9th, representatives from Higher Education Labor United will be attending the Democratic Socialists of American biennial convention in Chicago to take part in their first ever Cross-Organizational Political Exchange. HELU, a coalition of local labor unions and labor-related organizations, along with other […]

HELU has sponsored roundtables with regional and state-level higher ed locals and allied organizations around the country. This is a report on what has been going on with the Michigan state coalition. Others are in the works. –Editor From Anke Wolbert and Sean O’Brien. Anke Wolbert is on the HELU Steering Committee and is President

From Bruce Simon, SUNY Faculty Senate President and a member of Fredonia NY UUP Hours before the signing of the federal budget reconciliation megabill, ten current and former leaders of SUNY’s and CUNY’s governance bodies issued a July 4 declaration. Candice Vacin, President of the SUNY Faculty Council of Community Colleges (FCCC), described it as “a

From Nataly Reed, a member of United Campus Workers Arizona, a CWA affiliate and HELU member If it weren’t so devastating, it would be comic timing. Every year, contingent faculty, specifically lecturers with academic year appointments, at the University of Arizona are laid off in May. Then, in the fall, some are hired back in

From Helena Worthen, National Writers Union, HELU Media/Comms committee Many small local organizations of higher ed workers have tiny (or deficit) discretionary budgets. HELU needs these locals because local campuses are where labor has real traction, but HELU also needs to pay our staff, our internet and zoom bills, and so on. Conversely, small locals

From Trevor Griffey, Vice President of Legislation, UC-AFT 1474 The longer that the UC system maintains a hard line against unions at the bargaining table, the more likely it is that a majority of UC’s unionized workforce will be out of contract by the end of the 2025-26 school year. This may create a unique

From Sean O’Brien, HELU Steering Committee and member of Wayne Academic Union #6075 EWOC, the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, held its first conference at Wayne State University with co-hosts Labor@Wayne on June 28 and 29. The Unite & Win conference started with an opening reception on the evening of June 27 in the Reuther Library,

From Kent Wong, teacher of Labor Studies and Ethnic Studies at the UCLA Labor Center, Vice-President of the California Federation of Teachers and member of HELU member union AFT 1474 On July 10, 2025, 1,443 people gathered at the Los Angeles Convention Center for the largest nonviolence training in the history of the city, and

In Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis was carrying out Trump-style attacks on higher education before the 2024 election, the United Faculty of Florida, a statewide union, gathered organizers from various chapters and joined with other unions to hold a Worker’s Forum in Miami Springs, facilitated by the Miami-Dade DSA. – Editor From Chris Robé, Professor