After months of activism on UNC's campus surrounding increased wages and free parking for University housekeepers, a list of demands is being brought to the UNC System Board of Governors.
The updated demands focus on four main points.
These include higher pay for graduate student and campus workers, affordable health care and free parking for both graduate students and campus workers, Trey Anthony, president of The Workers Union at UNC said.
The Workers Union at UNC has partnered with other chapters of UE-150 — an organization that advocates for the rights of public employees — to create the list of demands and continue fighting for the areas of focus across other schools in the UNC System. These schools include N.C. State University, UNC-Charlotte and others.
The 10 demands — signed by The Campus and Graduate Workers of the UNC System — include the two initial requests that UNC-Chapel Hill housekeepers and campus workers have been organizing on since October: a $20/hr minimum wage and free parking.
The updated demands also call for the current North Carolina collective bargaining ban to be lifted.
“When we do face the Board of Governors, they have so much power to oversee all the campuses, that what we've discussed is wanting to make sure that we use that opportunity to make demands for housekeepers across the UNC campuses, other campus workers and grad students,” Nikhil Kothegal, a rank-and-file member of UNC-Chapel Hill's workers union, said.
A group of chapter leaders and members met on Monday night to discuss the main issues, what content to include within the letter and steps moving forward.
Alex Wall, a rank-and-file member of the N.C. State Workers Union said their chapter will look to UNC as an example this semester as they continue to fight for housekeeper rights at the university.
