Student Workers Deserve Dignity, Too

March 23, 2007

Graduate students who work for their universities are also employees deserving better working conditions and pay. At least that’s what a group of student workers and union organizers at UCLA decided as they join forces to form a union with AFSCME Local 3299. Stressing the importance of having a voice at work, they recently attended a meeting of the Associated Students UCLA Board of Directors to state their case. “We want to organize with AFSCME because currently there really is no voice for student workers,” Megan Markoff, a third-year political science student told UCLA’s The Daily Bruin. People attend college to acquire the skills that will help them become better professionals and advance themselves in the world. As student/workers who provide valuable services to UCLA they should be treated with the same dignity they expect to receive after graduation.