Undergraduate students who work as dorm staff at Bowdoin College have petitioned to form a union, claiming they’re not adequately paid for the long hours demanded by a job that blurs work and life boundaries.
It appears to be the first case of student housing staff at a Maine college or university trying to unionize, and it comes amid a national rise in residential college workers who are doing so.
In 2023, around 20,000 undergraduates across the country cast ballots in union elections, according to the New York Times. Student housing staff at schools including Harvard University and California State University have worked to unionize. Some smaller northeastern schools have also joined the trend, including Tufts and Wesleyan universities, and Smith and Swarthmore colleges.
At Bowdoin, students submitted a petition to college administrators on Monday to organize under OPEIU Local 153, which is part of the Office and Professional Employees International Union, The union says 82 percent of the staff signed the petition.
A spokesperson for Bowdoin College did not have an immediate comment on the union drive.
If the school does not voluntarily recognize the union, the Nation Labor Relations Board would hold an official vote for members to affirm their support.
According to organizers, the residential staff at Bowdoin often work more than the advertised 7-12 hours per week, overseeing anywhere from 10 to 50 residents. They can make between $3,600 and $6,900 annually, which does not fully cover the costs of food and housing at a school where tuition alone is more $64,000 per year.
The students in the union also said the work itself is demanding, with staff having to attend several weekly meetings and an uncompensated summer training, and be regularly available to provide emotional support for the students in their dorms.
“We, the Bowdoin Student Residential Staff, are moving to take power into our own hands,” said one of the union supporters, residential assistant Luke Robinson. “Our current work contract does not justly compensate our work efforts and ensures that Student Residential Staff have very little control over their pay structure.”