The United Campus Workers of Alabama are building a statewide voice of higher education workers across the state. Here's a rundown of how you can jump in and start organizing alongside your coworkers.
Chapters
Are you a union member looking to grow your voice on campus? Getting involved in your chapter is a great place to start! Chapters assemble at least once a month with all chapter constituencies (faculty, staff, graduate workers, undergraduate workers, chapter-level committees) to update one another about ongoing work and have collective strategy-building space. Between meetings, chapters communicate via member listservs and Slack.
We have active chapters in several cities at various stages of development. More chapters will be listed as more groups of workers will become public. If your institution is not listed, or if you need zoom information for the chapter in your area, contact alabama@ucw-cwa.org.
- The UA Tuscaloosa Chapter meets on the first Monday or Tuesday of each month via zoom.
Chapter - Level Committees
Chapters may choose to organize formal or ad-hoc committees to take on a number of tasks and issues. Attending a chapter meeting is the best way to learn about ongoing committee work and to sign up to get involved. Each chapter has a dedicated recruitment committee, and additional committees based on the needs of each growing chapter, such as the Action Committee at the UA Tuscaloosa Chapter.
Caucuses
Caucuses are spaces for constituencies of workers to meet with their professional peer groups to strateize about workplace issues, campaigns, and recruitment.
Graduate workers are currently organizing a caucus. To get involved, drop a line to alabama@ucw-cwa.org and we'll add you to the slack thread and get you in the loop about upcoming meetings.
If any other constituencies of workers would like to organize a caucus, reach out to alabama@ucw-cwa.org or attend a chapter meeting to get started.
Statewide Committees
Currently there is one major statewide committee: the steering committee. This is a democratically-elected body of members responsible for overseeing the growth and organizational development of the local, and meets twice a month.
Members are encouraged to contact the steering commitee with concerns, ideas, and requests. For example, if a membership committee would like to request funds for an event or campaign, the steering committee would be the group to contact about that request.