This article in The Breach powerfully shows how the cost-of-living crisis, alongside long-standing mistreatment of student workers, are inspiring student-workers across Canada to unionize - in UBC, SFU, Dalhousie, and of course, our movement in UW.
The Community Edition profiles Organize UW, with organizers explaining the motivation and current state of the drive, as well as the precarity, cost-of-living crisis, and neglect pushing us to organize for a better workplace.
Three graduate student organizers just published an Op-Ed in Imprint, the UWaterloo student newspaper, in which they discuss an important question: 'Does UW have a Teaching Assistant problem?' (Spoiler alert - the answer is yes). click here to read an excerpt and the link to the full opinion piece!
An editorial by OrganizeUW volunteer Nolan Shaw in Imprint, Waterloo's campus newspaper, describes the impacts of anti-labor legislation on sessionals and student workers - and what we can do to resist these anti-worker and undemocratic actions.
This article in Passage shows why we need a union in Waterloo! Volunteer worker organizers describe the conditions that inspired OrganizeUW, the challenges - and the creative solutions - around organizing during remote learning, and the catastrophic impacts the pandemic has had on student workers and sessional instructors.
Who is OrganizeUW? What happens once TAs, RAs, and sessionals unionize? Could student-faculty relationships be impacted? How can faculty best offer support? As a prof, lecturer, or other faculty member, you may be wondering what unionization would look like at UW and how it could impact you. In our new guest post on the FAUW Blog we work to directly address such questions and concerns. We also list some easy ways you can help, including spreading the word and filling in our quick form to register your support. Click here for the link to the full post!
OrganizeUW calls out the University of Waterloo with new survey data suggesting graduate students are doing much worse now than before the start of the pandemic
In a new segment, organizers chat with Shalaka Jadhav of CKMS Radio about the latest on the organizing drive, why UW academic workers want and need a union, positive reactions and momentum, the experience of digital organizing, keeping our eyes on the prize in the face of anti-union tactics, and more. The discussion focuses in particular on key questions about why the drive is important to the local community, impacts and benefits it could bring, and connections to conditions and changes in society more broadly. Check out the show to hear more!
OrganizeUW was featured recently on [Episode 62 - "Grad Union, COVID Tracing, America Votes"](https://soundcloud.com/beyond-the-bulletin/episode-62-grad-union-covid-tracking-america-votes) of *Beyond the Bulletin,* UW's weekly campus affairs podcast, including an interview with a student organizer and discussion of the OrganizeUW campaign! The Interview begin at about ~9:30, but please check out the whole episode!
Sara, a student organizer, was recently interviewed by Ariel Deutschmann from KitchenerToday.com, for her article ["Graduate students from UW plan to unionize"](https://www.kitchenertoday.com/local-news/graduate-students-from-uw-plan-to-unionize-2693305). They chatted about digital organizing during a pandemic, our goal to improve working and learning conditions at UW, and how unionization works. This blog post not only includes some snippets from the full KT article, but also has the latest updates from the drive, some thoughts on being an organizer, and a preview of what's to come in the Fall semester.