Get Involved in the Future of Higher Education
This year Local 328 became a supporting member of Higher Labor Education United (HELU). HELU is a national coalition of higher education unions that want to see higher education treated and funded as a social good and universal right. Everyone in this country should have access to quality free higher education that also supports the livelihoods of campus workers from staff to faculty.
I’ve been working with HELU for a little over a year now, attending general membership meetings and working on their outreach committee. At first, I found it overwhelming, but I was inspired by the work happening there that I kept coming back. I’ve learned so much about the challenges facing higher education across the country by talking with members of staff, faculty, and graduate student unions. And our challenges, no matter where we are, are the same: Austerity, budget cuts, and privatization leading to layoffs, stagnant wages, and rising tuition (which leads to massive student debts).
Members unions in HELU get delegates based on their size, and Local 328 is entitled to three. I currently serve as one and I’m looking for two more to join me. Delegates attend bi-monthly general assembly meetings (currently every other Monday at 1:00 PM) where the membership goes over reports from committees and makes financial, strategy, and policy decisions for the coalition. Anyone from a member union can attend, but only delegates may vote, so there are plenty of opportunities to learn more about what happens in HELU.
HELU also has several committees to get involved in, the three main ones are:
The Committee for Political Advocacy (CPA) – Works on political, legislative, and regulatory campaigns. They just launched a campaign “Higher Education for All! The Future is Free” along with other national partners to fight for free higher public education.
The National Coordinated Organizing Committee (NCOC) –Connects unions across campuses, coordinates coalition work, and supports union organizing and strike campaigns.
The Policy Development Committee (PDC) – Develops educational policy for state and national campaigns.
Similar to the General Assembly Meetings, these are open to anyone who is a member of a HELU organization. Committees are where a lot of the work gets done in HELU, and is a great place to get started and gain a better understanding of what the coalition does.
If you are a 328 member in good standing and work in the education mission at OHSU in any capacity or just believe that our system of higher education in this country is in desperate need of reform then I want to hear from you. My email is acena@ohsu.edu. And if you’re worried that you might not be able to attend these meetings that happen during normal work hours, reach out anyway, I’ll see if we can get paid time. Staff unions are underrepresented in HELU, and especially staff at university hospitals, and I want workers like us to have a strong voice in shaping the future of higher education.