Barrett Nightingale loves Emerson College. It’s what motivates the graduate student-turned-full-time employee to support her staff union colleagues leafleting on Boylston Street Thursday afternoon, the group demanding Emerson add several staff departments (her own included) to the union’s contract.
“What if I told you that 90% of the cash that Emerson College brings in was collected by three people?” the student accounts counselor said in an interview with The Beacon ahead of the action. “We make it work, but we break our backs for this, and we want to be recognized for that or at least get a solution.”
Members of the staff union stood in front of the Dining Hall and Walker Building handing out fliers advocating for the admission of the financial aid and student accounts departments to be protected under the existing union’s contract. “These are the people who work LONG HOURS to process Financial Aid applications,” the flier read. “They deserve a REAL chance to improve their working conditions!!!”
In May, the financial aid and student accounts departments voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining Emerson’s staff union, but the move did not automatically include the staffers under the union’s existing contract, which is set to expire later this year.
As a result, several union members said in interviews with The Beacon, the employees in these departments did not receive the cost-of-living adjustment that union and nonunion staff received at the onset of the year. Instead, they say, the college is working to ensure they can’t. (Unionized staff received a 3.4% raise and non-union staff received a 4% raise earlier this month as part of the contract’s cost-of-living adjustment clause.)
“All we’re seeking is for the college to include that work unit under our existing contract and to provide the recent raises that staff got because right now the raises are being held back on these people, which is, in some people’s minds, a punishment for joining a union,” said John-Albert Moseley, a founding member and current chair of the union, and a visual media arts program coordinator.
He noted that the larger implication of the college’s refusal to voluntarily admit staff departments into the union and its contract is worrying, as it promotes division within the institution and among employees. By doing this, Moseley said, Emerson is creating “management-labor hostility” and, in his opinion, the best path forward is to allow the departments a “clean entry” into the union.
“It’s very confusing and very unsettling that the college wants to have all these different existing additions to our contract on different time frames instead of making things super simple and clean and understandable,” he said. “What the college is asking for now is largely shocking that they want to create this level of division between all of us.”
In recent weeks, a new challenge has emerged: A number of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that target diversity, equity, and inclusion measures, immigration, and civil rights have triggered fear and confusion across higher education institutions across the country.
One order signed Monday (then rescinded shortly after) that froze federal funding and grants while the government reviewed whether the spending aligned with the Trump administration’s goals created “a lot of extra work” for the financial aid and student accounts departments, according to Karen Uminski. It was work that the departments were eager to complete, she said, but that didn’t stop her inbox from flooding with concerns from students anxious about the fate of their federal loan money.
“Our primary concern is the students, and we are willing to do pretty much anything we have to so that the students can come to Emerson and not have too much stress and anxiety,” Umniski, a senior assistant director of student accounts, said. “To not have that recognized by senior management … is not really acceptable, and right now, we don’t have any contract.”
On the street, staff worked in shifts to disseminate the fliers to passersby. Despite the cold temperatures and punishing winds, employees eagerly engaged with community members as they advocated for their colleagues. Students, faculty, and Bostonians alike chatted about the action as they made their way into campus buildings.
“I love Emerson College so much; I wouldn’t work here if I didn’t love it,” Nightingale said. “I know every employee in my office feels the same way, and we want to be able to afford to keep working here.”
