Undergraduate Student Workers at Kenyon College Strike for Union Recognition for the Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee

April 27, 2021 (Gambier, Ohio)- Undergraduate student workers at Kenyon College have gone on strike for union recognition through a community election for the Kenyon Student Worker Organizing Committee (K-SWOC/UE) which seeks to form the first multi-shop undergraduate student labor union. This is the first undergraduate student labor strike for union recognition in American history. On April 19th, K-SWOC called upon Kenyon College to participate in a community election on union recognition, a compromise that was rejected on April 26th. On April 26th, 30 Apprentice Teachers within the Modern Languages and Literatures and Classics departments went on strike for union recognition. The following day, they were joined by their fellow student workers. 140 student workers have gone on strike though that number is expected to grow.

I am striking for union recognition because student work at Kenyon cannot be stable without one. In my time at Kenyon, the administration has demonstrated that they do not take student input into account and that they are willing to bend labor law when they see fit. The only way to end these unfair practices is to give workers a seat at the table through a recognized union.” Owen Hevly’23, Brown Family Environmental Center Student Manager.

“I am striking for union recognition because, without a student workers union, the college will continue treating cases of workplace discrimination on an individual basis; although the root of discrimination is structural and must be addressed accordingly.” Sofia Alpizar Roman ‘21, Digital Kenyon Intern. 

“A Union provides Apprentice Teachers with the security and compensation we deserve from Kenyon. The latest action from the College is part of a larger trend of minimizing and undercompensating the work and value we add to this campus. A Union allows us to speak with our own voice as to what we want to see regarding job security, wages, compensation and equity. These are the issues I am most concerned about as an AT, and they continue to resonate within me as I see the work student workers  across campus have been doing and the space they have claimed for themselves to articulate their rights, specifically their rights to have the fairness and dignity in the workplace that a union provides.” Ariella Kissin ‘22, Russian Apprentice Teacher with the Modern Languages and Literatures department.

The authorization of this strike for union recognition comes just a little over a month after the first known undergraduate student labor strike was held on Kenyon’s Campus on March 16, 2021. Majorities of student workers in five shops, including LBIS, Lifeguard, the Kenyon Farm, the Wright Center, and the Kenyon College Greenhouse, participated in the March 16 strike. K-SWOC has been working to support student-workers at Kenyon since April of 2020 and went public with a demand for union recognition on August 31,  2020.