Student workers began to organize during the COVID-19 pandemic in response to a lack of suﬀicient support for some of the most vulnerable members of the community, including parents and those of us on visas, as well as increased fees, poorer quality health coverage, and inadequate administrative communication. We realized that we could make even more progress by negotiating as equals with WPI over our working conditions. The UAW represents more than 100,000 academic workers across the United States, including more graduate student employees and postdocs than any other union. In the last eight years alone over 40,000 academic workers around the country have chosen to become part of the UAW. Read more here about UAW success helping academic workers negotiate concrete improvements to wages, benefits and workplace rights. The UAW has particular experience with helping to negotiate and enforce strong student worker contracts. Most recently, student workers at Columbia University in NYC voted by 96.7% to ratify their first contract with a majority participating. Harvard student workers approved their contract in 2021. Last year, the University of California recognized Student Researchers United-UAW as representative for more than 17,000 workers, after a supermajority of UC student researchers signed cards selecting SRU-UAW as their union. In addition to drawing on the UAWʼs wide experience bargaining contracts with university administrators, we can exercise a stronger political voice through the UAW. With active members at more than 45 major campuses across the US, the UAW has become a strong advocate on policy issues that matter to us as academics, such as federal support for science funding and enhancing the rights of international research scientists.