The University is prepared to recognize a proposed union of Community Coordinators — live-in residential assistants employed by the University’s Office of Residential Life — pending a check of their signed union authorization cards, Vice President for Campus Life Eric Estes wrote in a letter to organizers Friday that was reviewed by The Herald.
Organizers with the Labor Organization of Community Coordinators announced their intent to unionize in a Sept. 29 press release and stated that a “strong majority” of the approximately 140 Community Coordinators employed by the University had signed authorization cards giving the proposed union the right to bargain on their behalf, The Herald previously reported.
The group later delivered a letter requesting voluntary recognition from the University at a rally held last Tuesday and had requested a response from administrators by Monday at 12 p.m.
“The University is prepared to recognize LOCC provided that a review of signed union authorization cards shows that LOCC has majority support among the Community Coordinators,” Estes wrote. “The University will respect the choice made by students as demonstrated in signed union authorization cards and we will not engage in, or tolerate, any conduct which interferes with or seeks to inappropriately influence student choices.”
LOCC organizers are currently working with the University to hire a third party to independently review the signed authorization cards and verify that they represent majority support among Community Coordinators, organizer Elijah Puente ’26 wrote in a statement to The Herald on behalf of LOCC organizers.
If majority support is confirmed, LOCC will become a part of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals/American Federation of Teachers Local 6516 along with the Graduate Labor Organization and the Teaching Assistant Labor Organization, which won its union in a vote held last March.
“We believe this is a win for not only LOCC, but all organized labor and student workers on campus,” the statement from LOCC organizers reads.
Sam Levine is a University News editor from Brooklyn, New York covering on-campus activism. He is a senior concentrating in International and Public Affairs.
