Portside

MIDDLETOWN — A large group of Wesleyan University students, current and former staff, community members, union officers and legislators gathered on campus Saturday to demand better pay and working conditions.

Residential Life students, who recently formed the Wesleyan Union of Student Employees, held its first rally Saturday at North College, where the Office of Residential Life and some administrators’ offices are located.

They also organized a sit-in at the Exley Science Center that evening, and plan to return to North College Monday, when administrators are there. As of Saturday evening, more than 80 percent of Res Life student staff had signed union cards, and almost 700 pledged support through a community petition.

They submitted a request for voluntary recognition and set a 5 p.m. Friday deadline for the university to recognize the union before it files for an election with the National Labor Relations Board, staff said. The group is affiliated with OPEIU Local 153, which is also the group that encompasses the university physical plant and clerical worker unions.

“In response to a request from certain Residential Life student employees, Wesleyan has agreed to commence the process of voluntarily recognizing that group’s effort to unionize,” Manager of Media & Public Relations Steve Scarpa said Monday morning.

Organizers say this has been years in the making.

Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim, state Rep. Quentin Williams, state Sen. Matt Lesser, and Rep. Brandon Chafee, all Democrats from Middletown, and state Rep. Gary Turco, D-Newington, pledged their support for the cause. Florsheim and Lesser graduated from Wesleyan in 2014 and 2010, respectively, and expressed hope that their alma mater would recognize WesUSE’s efforts.

By unionizing, student workers will have bargaining power with the full legal support of a union, and be able to participate in decisions regarding their contracts, Residential Life employee Robyn Wong said.

Wong also pointed out that even if the university chooses to voluntarily recognize the union, bargaining could take a long time.

“Our eventual goal is that this becomes something that all future ResLife staff members who come onto this job have this platform to voice their voices and have a seat at the bargaining table,” two-year employee Dennis Law said.

One union goal is to use its bargaining power to increase student residential life worker pay. Wesleyan does not provide room and board for these employees.

According to the Office of Residential Life website, student residential life workers are paid between $2,609.52 and $11,092.48, depending on their positions. The residential comprehensive fee is $17,531 for underclassmen and $18,905 for upperclassmen.

The University Board of Trustees are also considering raising the tuition by 3.7 percent next year.

Student-workers highlighted how the COVID-19 pandemic and over-enrollment of the Class of 2025 has worsened working conditions.

“We are supporting students in an overwhelming transitional period in their lives, and Wesleyan becomes their home for four years,” student-employee Charissa Lee said. “ResLife workers are the backbone of this institution. We work on the front lines of this university. We are the first to respond to emergencies, we’re the first to respond to instances of trauma in our residential spaces.”

“We must be fairly compensated for the physical and emotional labor we do for this job,” she added.

Williams, who was a resident adviser during his time at Bryant University, also stressed the importance of Res Life workers as a support system.

“When someone says they’ve been hurt on campus, they go to their RA,” Williams said. “When they’re having trouble with school, they go to their RA. When there’s a fire in the building, the first person that is there is probably going to be the RA before public safety gets there.”

Members of the administration did not attend the rally.

“We have heard of staff members who are so afraid of losing their jobs every day,” Law said. “I think it’s unfair on the student worker to be always on duty, to always be seen. When they are always seen, there’s no way out of that.”

Other student residential life workers shared anecdotes of their experiences with the Office of Residential Life, and how they said past efforts to advocate for themselves failed.

Florsheim acknowledged the power of unions in Middletown.

“We managed to still plow those streets, keep them safe, bring in business, bring in residents, run our community, and the reason for it -- and the reason I am better as a boss in a unionized workplace than I would be otherwise -- is because when workers are getting what they need, they’re great at their jobs.”

Editor’s Note: Hannah Docter-Loeb is a student at Wesleyan University