In a culmination of over a year and a half of collective bargaining, Grinnell College and the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) have come to a tentative agreement that, if passed via a majority vote, would represent the first wall-to-wall — covering all student workers — undergraduate contract in U.S. history.
“It’s never been done before,” Conrad Dahm `26, UGSDW co-president, said.
The contract, not yet into effect, must first be voted on and approved by UGSDW members, with voting opening at 8 a.m. on March 25th and closing at 5 p.m. on April 4th. The College refused to comment on any of the terms of the contract, citing an inability to directly deal with individual employees covered by the Union, according to NLRA policy. The S&B took a deeper look into the tentative agreement and here’s what this contract could mean for you.
The tentative agreement emerges as a culmination of years of student labor activists’ and organizers’ advocacy, Sweet said. If ratified, the contract will be the first in U.S. history to apply to all undergraduate student workers at an individual institution. Other clauses in the contract include provisions to allow the Union to further and again bargain over new workplace changes in the future.
“We’ve talked to the founder of the Union who has now finished his PhD and is about to become a professor at Penn State, Cory McCartan [`19] … he told us that this movement started in 2017 to get this wall-to-wall,” Dahm said.
“This culminates in countless hours and hundreds upon hundreds of student worker activists trying time and time again to get this wall-to-wall.”
Nick El Hajj contributed reporting.
