On March 9, leaders from unions at Brown and across Rhode Island convened at the Student Labor Alliance’s third annual “State of the Unions,” capping off a year of bargaining and organizing marked by Trump administration uncertainty.
The event featured representatives from Brown’s Graduate Labor Organization, the United Service and Allied Workers of Rhode Island, the Service Employees International Union 1957 New England, the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, Workers United and UNITE Here Local 26.
R.I. AFL-CIO President Patrick Crowley delivered the event’s keynote address, arguing that workers’ rights were “under attack” from federal officials. The National Labor Relations Board — an independent agency that enforces federal labor organizing laws — has been gridlocked since Jan. 27 when President Trump fired a board member for the first time in the board’s 89-year history.
Crowley highlighted how changes at the NLRB were “one of the first things” that the new administration has implemented.
“When you think about all of the actions that they’re engaged in, first thing out of the gate was to gut worker rights and worker protections,” Crowley said.
Trump fired Biden-appointed member Gwynne Wilcox, leaving the board unable to reach a three-person quorum and setting off a legal battle over the president’s authority to remove a sitting member.
Fearing that student workers’ rights to organize may be overturned by Trump’s NLRB, Brown’s Graduate Labor Organization are working with Crowley and state legislators this session to pass a bill that would codify these rights in Rhode Island state law.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
At the event, GLO President Michael Ziegler GS shared updates on ongoing negotiations for the Brown University Postdoc Labor Organization — which represents Brown’s postdoctoral researchers — and the Third World Labor Organization — bargaining for student workers at the Brown Center for Students of Color. The two bargaining unions are the only in GLO’s umbrella union, RIFT-AFT Local 6516, that have yet to secure a formal contract with Brown.
Ziegler said that bargaining has stalled because the postdoc union has not received a counterproposal from the University on the contract’s compensation article since BPLO’s original proposal in July 2024.
He called the perceived delay “unacceptable,” at the Sunday event, adding that “this really is unprecedented for Brown to hold back a counter for so long.”
In an email to The Herald, University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote that the University had reached an “interim agreement” on compensation that is in effect.
“With an interim agreement in place through June, we continue to explore this and many other topics with the union as we expand on the number of tentative agreements already in place with the goal of reaching the first long-term collectively bargained agreement for Brown postdocs,” Clark wrote in an email to The Herald. “Our focus is on sustaining productive, good-faith conversations with union representatives directly at the table.”
The June interim agreement brought postdoc salary levels up to the National Institutes of Health’s recommended salary minimums, ending a monthslong dispute, The Herald previously reported.
Amy Cardone, the business agent for USAW-RI, said that negotiations for Brown’s library workers were similarly stalled.
“We have to put the University on notice that we’re not going to let them push us around any of the union workers — not just us, but across the board,” Cardone said.
“We’ve made significant progress and we continue to work through key provisions, including on health insurance, retirement benefits and other topics,” Clark wrote. “We deeply value our library employees and we look forward to continued progress at the bargaining table.”
Correction: This article has been updated to more accurately reflect the union representatives in attendance.
Ethan Schenker is a university news editor covering staff and student labor. He is from Bethesda, MD, and plans to study International and Public Affairs and Economics. In his free time, he enjoys playing piano and clicking on New York Times notifications.
