The Wesleyan Union of Student Employees (WesUSE) held a rally on the steps of North College at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4 to raise support for the union and discuss the latest rounds of negotiations with the University. WesUSE represents around 100 Resident Advisors (RAs), Community Advisors (CAs), and House Managers (HMs). The rally was organized and led by members of the WesUSE bargaining committee, including Ruby Clarke ’24, Nigel Hayes ’23, Claire Edwards ’24, Yohely Compres ’24, Joshua Kleiman ’24, and Sam DosSantos ’25.

Since the University voluntarily recognized WesUSE in March 2022, the WesUSE bargaining committee has been involved in negotiating a new contract for Residential Life (ResLife) student staff. The latest rounds of negotiations have focused on the financial compensation of ResLife student workers—including tying increases in the cost of attendance to salaries and when overtime pay starts—and the University’s contract with them.

Around 100 people attended the rally, including members of the United Student/Labor Action Coalition, members of other unions from across the state, students, faculty, and staff. Most attendees held signs with pro-union messages and imagery, and members of various unions under the Connecticut State Building Trades Council, who came to show their solidarity with WesUSE, lined the back of the audience. Members from a number of unions, including WesUSE, spoke at the rally, which was moderated by Edwards.

DosSantos kicked off the rally by recounting the circumstances which led to the formation of WesUSE. They cited the lack of hazard pay and little administrative support that student workers received during the pandemic lockdown in 2020 and during the flood that struck the Butterfields buildings on Sept. 1, 2021, despite the integral role that student workers played. According to DosSantos, these were the two primary incidents that incited student workers to organize. 

“That’s why we’re here today: advocacy,” DosSantos said. “It’s an important word…RAs have had enough. [WesUSE has] asked for the coverage of the entire Residential Comprehensive fee. That is not what the university wants to give us, [but] we believe fundamentally that the social contract between a residential life worker and their university is to cover their cost of housing.”

Hayes, an RA for 200 Church St. and the president of the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA), then addressed the rally attendees. He spoke from his experience in both positions about how the University has spent its revenue and endowment funds, positing that student workers’ quality of life has not been a priority for the administration.

“Does anybody know how much you pay to be here on campus?” Hayes asked the crowd during his speech.

“Too much!” an attendee responded.

“Do you think it’s worth the places you live in currently?” Hayes asked.

 “No!” many attendees responded in unison. 

Hayes recounted the experience of a 200 Church St. resident who was in attendance and had to receive multiple rabies shots due to a bat infestation in the building. He reiterated WesUSE’s demands to the University and encouraged attendees to acknowledge that the value of the work that ResLife staff do is worth more than the minimal wages that they are paid to do it. 

“We’ve asked for…not only a raise, but to make sure that for future Wesleyan students, that [their] pay is tied to how much it costs you to be here,” Hayes said. “Do you think you’re worth less than minimum wage? I’m gonna…do as much as I can to make sure that [student workers] get what you deserve, because I can’t tell you how much you are worth, but I know, it’s more than minimum fucking wage.”

After Hayes spoke, Executive President of the Connecticut State Building Trades Council Joe Toner addressed the crowd. Toner expressed solidarity with WesUSE on behalf of members of building trade unions from across the state, many of whom were in attendance.

“I say this on behalf of the 30,000 men and women in the organized construction industry [in Connecticut]: We stand with WesUSE,” Toner said. “We stood with WesUSE nine months ago. We stand with them today and we’re gonna stand with them until this contract is ratified.” 

Toner also spoke about his experience negotiating with the University on behalf of unionized construction workers with regard to the construction of the new Science building on Lawn Avenue.

“[The building trades union representatives] met with [University President Michael Roth ’78] in the summer,” Toner said. “We asked him, ‘Are you willing to include folks from this neighborhood [in that construction project]…and ensure they can have a livable wage and a career in a building trade?’ Roth told us no. We asked Roth if we could make sure disadvantaged folks and people of color that are underrepresented get an opportunity to work on this project through the building trades unions. Roth said no. We also asked if we can make sure that non-traditional folks, women, will have an opportunity to make a livable wage at the science facility. Roth said no.”

Connecticut State Senator Jan Hochadel brought greetings from the American Federation of Teachers and encouraged WesUSE members to continue fighting for their rights. 

“What does actually being [in] a union mean?” Hochadel said. “Two words come to mind for me: It’s power and it’s respect. You guys are fighting the good fight. You are an inspiration to even those of us that have been [advocating for labor rights] for a really, really long time…. We are here for you. We wanna help you. Build that power. Get that respect. You deserve it.”

The crowd was then addressed by Kleiman, a CA in the High/Low Rise apartments, who spoke about his experiences as a member of the Bargaining Committee and what he hopes WesUSE and other student organizing on campus will be able to accomplish going forward.

“Wesleyan is a school that used to pride [itself on] being a beacon of social change,” Kleiman said. “Wesleyan still advertises itself like that. That’s how [the administration] makes their money. They’re like, ‘We are Wesleyan. We are everything progressive about this nation.’ But we’re not. [Wesleyan is] a money-making machine and the administration is going to do whatever they can to keep that machine running. [The students] need to interrupt the machine. We are a part of it, but we can really break the chain. We can break the pattern.”

Political Director of the Connecticut American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (CT AFL-CIO) Joelyn Leon greeted the attendees on behalf of the organization and encouraged WesUSE members to continue to advocate for themselves in the face of resistance from the administration.

“We live in Connecticut…one of the richest states in the entire country,” Leon said. “Yet we have a wealth gap that is second in the country. We keep seeing the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer. We have too many people who have always stood back and said, ‘This is just the way it is. We can’t do anything about it.’ We’re here to tell you that that’s not true. If you keep fighting, you will win.”

The last two speakers at the rally were RAs Taubman and Clarke. Taubman, who had not initially planned to speak at the event, explained the reasons that she and many other RAs continue in the position, despite feeling underappreciated, and expressed her gratitude for the support shown by the attendees of the rally.

“Why in the world…do [ResLife staff] continue to put ourselves through more exhaustion?” Taubman asked. “Why don’t we quit? [Because] our residents don’t deserve that.” 

Clarke, who was acknowledged by the previous student speakers as an integral part of the unionizing and bargaining process, was welcomed to the top of the North College steps with raucous applause from the crowd. The beginning of her speech focused on the value of residential life workers on campus. 

“I work for ResLife all of the time,” Clarke said. “Even when I’m not on duty…there’s a reason my keycard can open every [residential] building on campus…because, in the case of an emergency, we are seen as the leaders on campus…regardless of how we’re getting paid. The administration…call themselves leaders, but they are not here in moments of crisis…. We as students are not able to divorce ourselves from these material conditions that we are forced to live in as workers.”

Clarke then spoke of the power that the administration has to improve the experience of student workers, specifically by increasing the financial compensation they receive.

“It’s really important for us to recognize that we are choosing these jobs because they’re the only jobs that are available for us,” Clarke said. “There is not a better option. The school is able to then provide us with whatever pay they feel is comfortable for them. That has nothing to do with the amount of work we do, the kind of work we do, [or] the quality of work that we do.”

Clarke commended her colleagues on the bargaining committee for the work they have already accomplished during the bargaining process so far. 

“We’re showing up for student workers and we’re fighting for a contract,” Clarke said. “We’re finding a contract that’s not gonna be able to solve the problem, but we know what it is gonna do. It’s gonna suck hundreds of thousands of dollars away from the university and put into the pockets of student workers every single year. A real change to this campus that has not ever happened [before]. We’re gonna be setting a precedent for a whole bunch of other schools. The way that we are getting paid is going to impact the way that everyone else is getting paid.”

The rally ended with the bargaining committee members leading the attendees in a march around College Row, reciting chants in support of WesUSE and the residential life workers. 

“Union strong, union proud, everybody say it loud!” the crowd chanted. “Michael Roth, don’t be a jerk, ResLife makes this campus work. Roth’s salary is protected, ResLife staff are not respected!”

Sulan Bailey can be reached at sabailey@wesleyan.edu.