The Labor Organization of Community Coordinators had its third bargaining session with the University on March 15 over its first collective bargaining agreement.
This session focused on proposals for discrimination protection, discipline, grievances and no strike/no lockout clauses.
LOCC, which was formally recognized by the University last fall, has spent this semester identifying bargaining priorities for a contract. According to Anna Ryu ’25, a member of LOCC’s bargaining committee, the union aims to have a contract in place by the next academic year.
According to Ryu, LOCC has introduced 12 clauses since the start of its bargaining sessions with the University on Feb. 16. Some clauses relate to job protections specific to the Community Coordinator role while others are adapted from contracts with the Graduate Labor Organization and the Teaching Assistant Labor Organization that generally “cover (their) rights as a union,” Ryu said.
“We hope that our negotiations and ultimate contract will help us all — ResLife and CCs — in better serving our residential communities through more collaboratively-organized systems and dialogue,” she added.
“We are headed into our (fourth) session with LOCC and we continue to receive and review proposals as part of the collective bargaining process,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. “We continue to engage directly with union representatives as we work productively toward a fair agreement that ensures continued support for community coordinators.”
LOCC is currently waiting for the University to provide feedback and counter-prposals in response to all twelve proposals. The fourth bargaining session between LOCC and the University will be held Friday. “We’re anticipating responses on some of our proposed articles from the University,” said Ryu.
According to a LOCC Instagram post, the session will center around compensation for CCs. Specifically, Ryu says that CCs plan to “present their proposed article on compensation that covers room and board,” which “touches on the core issue for union members.”
“I'm feeling hopeful for the weeks ahead,” she added. “As we wait for response and get into more of the dialogue portions of the bargaining, I’m holding a fair amount of hope in how these conversations will go and what will come of them.”
Ryu credited her optimism to “the support from the CCs that (she) works with in the bargaining committee.”
“Before being a part of this, I wasn’t really aware of union activity, especially on campus,” Ryu said. “But learning more about what is possible with the union and building this community and seeing what other people care about have helped me realize how important this is to me, and hopefully, to all of us.”
Grace Hu is a senior staff writer covering graduate student life. She is a sophomore from Massachusetts studying English and Neuroscience.
