UCW Georgia

The only wall-to-wall higher ed union in Georgia.

Membership is open to all USG workers, including:

  • Part-time staff, regardless of permanent or temporary status
  • Graduate assistants, researchers, and fellows
  • Part-time faculty including adjuncts and lecturers
  • Full time faculty and staff
  • Undergraduate student workers, including federal work-study students
  • Post-doctoral workers
  • Workers at institutions whose funding is allocated by the USG, including the Georgia Archives and the Georgia Public Library Service.

Workers in outsourced departments like Sodexo, Aramark, etc. are private sector employees and have the right to engage in collective bargaining with their employer.

Organizing at 20 out of 26 institutions...So far!

Not sure if your campus has a chapter? Contact an organizer to get connected or to start organizing at your workplace!

Being a wall-to-wall union means members across the state can work together on shared issues and coordinate lobbying efforts directed at the state legislature. Some committees include: 

  • Legislative Committee
  • Research for Organizing Network (RON)
  • Budget Committee
  • Communications Committee
  • K16 Teach Truth Coalition
  • Tobacco Surcharge Committee

Any member may organize with other members to form a statewide committee. Reach out to us at [email protected] or check the calendar to learn more about statewide committee meetings.

Now Hiring an Atlanta Organizer

UCWGA is hiring for a full time local organizer position in Atlanta. Are you interested in helping to grow and sustain UCWGA? Do you have folks in your network that you think would be a great fit to pass this information along to? Applicants: Please send your resume, a cover letter detailing why you would be a great fit for the position and organization, and two to three references to [email protected].

HB 1576: Public Sector Collective Bargaining in GA

UCWGA is proud to announce its support for House Bill 1576, which if enacted, would provide public sector workers with collective bargaining rights in the state of Georgia.  UCWGA worked with the Georgia AFL-CIO, the Atlanta North Georgia Labor Council, State Representative Bee Nguyen, State Representative William Boddie, and other legislative allies in getting the bill introduced at the end of the 2022 legislative session.

Presidents' Report April 2022

After over thirty years without a cost of living adjustment, full-time University System of Georgia (USG) employees expect to see a significant increase in their paychecks as early as their April payday. Georgia legislators have included five thousand dollar salary raises for all full-time state employees, including benefitted USG employees.

On the Verge of Victory: Grad Students Win the Fight to End the SIF

This time, three years ago, the graduate committee of the UGA chapter held a meeting in which we decided to focus on the Special Institutional Fee (SIF). Due to the challenges associated with across-the-board stipend raises, we decided to focus on fees. Every student would benefit from the repeal of the SIF. Moreover, at $450 per semester, it was by far the largest fee at UGA. It was also the most egregious. The only real, universal service graduate students received from this fee was funding because the fee subsidized graduate student stipends and insurance.

Will Part-Time Faculty ever be treated with dignity?

In my 23 years of teaching freshmen composition at Kennesaw State University as a part-time faculty member, I have overcome so many slaps in the face by the Board of Regents (BoR) for the University System of Georgia (USG) as well as whoever is sitting in the governor’s seat at the time. Raises here, improved benefits there, but sadly, none of these job perks ever filter down to my level because the governor and the BoR see part-time faculty as less than worthy even though without us most state colleges and universities could not open their doors each semester.

Recommendations for Campus Implementation of USG/BOR Tenure Changes

Read the full report on how campus committees charged with implementing changes can mitigate the damage of these policy changes and protect academic freedom and tenure to the greatest extent possible.

GSU-Perimeter

Statement of GSU-Perimeter Issues:

We acknowledge the historic role that discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and class have played in institutions of higher education, including Georgia State University and Georgia Perimeter College. We seek to serve as an advocate and ally for all higher education workers and students who have suffered the effects of these toxic policies and practices.

New GSW Chapter sends open letter to leadership

Workers at Georgia Southwestern recently delivered an open letter to President Weaver and Provost Smith urging them to advocate for a USG mask mandate and to model responsible mask wearing behavior. Sign on in support here. 

TOBACCO SURCHARGE COMMITTEE ADVOCATEs FOR CHANGES TO THE DEFAULT TOBACCO USER DESIGNATION 

The problematic setup of this fee has cost employees thousands of dollars of their hard-earned paychecks. UCWGA members started this campaign to change the way workers are opted-in and to win refunds for all wrongly charged workers. Reach out to [email protected] to join this campaign!

Not sure if you've been affected? Take these steps:

  1. Log in to OneUSG
  2. Connect Click "payroll," then "pay," then your paystub
  3. Look for "Tobacco Surcharge" 
  4. If you're paid twice monthly, check two stubs!

Take the pledge to demand dignity for part-time faculty! 

UGA's graduate student committee leads the charge for public graduate student organizing in Georgia. Together with members of all job classes and graduate students at other schools they've spent years advocating for the end of the Special Institutional Fee. SIF is finally ending for all students in Georgia! Great work!!

 We can do a lot and have a proven track record of wins. 

  1. We sponsored resolutions in both the Georgia Senate and House to win cost-of-living adjustments for all USG employees. After 3 years of lobbying the USG budget was increased to grant full-time workers at $5k COLA raise. 

  2. Our graduate student members at UGA won a seat at the table to negotiate health care costs. After 3 years of campaigning they won the removal of the Special Institutional Fee that was implemented during the recession. No students in Georgia will pay the SIF moving forward.

  3. We participated in many grievance processes; winning members back their hours after cuts, winning new appointments for laid off workers, and defending members from employer abuse. 

  4. We are campaigning to stop a campus from increasing course loads to pay for the administration’s budget shortfall.

  5. One campus started offering free on-campus covid-19 testing for students after members petitioned and protested for more safety measures.

  6. Workers formed a solidarity fund to support laid off workers at KSU.

To win widespread, long-lasting change workers must organize a supermajority of USG employees to demand fair compensation and working conditions for all. Put the U in UNION by joining UCWGA!