Community Advisors Unionize to Address Grievances

Community advisors (CAs) requested union recognition in a letter to the administration on Nov. 22, after 46 of 60 CAs signed cards in favor of unionization. The organizers stated that the move follows years of growing dissatisfaction with pay, inadequate respect for the role, and disjointed communication with each other and the administration. Their efforts gained further momentum following recent dramatic changes to the CA job description and compensation structure. 

In an interview, organizers — who elected to remain anonymous because of a stipulation in their contract that “CAs should not speak on behalf of the department to any media outlet” — said that they decided to pursue a union to ensure that employees had an active voice in what their role on campus looks like. 

The Association of Amherst Students adopted a resolution with a vote of 16-3-9 (yes-no-abstain) in support of the CA unionization efforts on Monday, calling on the administration to recognize and negotiate with the union.

Dean of Students Angie Tissi-Gassoway received the Nov. 22 letter — which requested voluntary recognition of the union from the administration — and wrote to the CAs that administrators would “respond more meaningfully” by this Friday, the deadline that the union organizers requested. When asked to comment for this article, the administration reiterated that they are examining the CAs’ request and will respond by Friday. 

Organizers stated in the letter that the union effort is not intended as a malicious act against the administration but rather is an attempt to establish safeguards to address grievances.

Isabelle Anderson ’25, who worked as a CA for three years while she was a student, said her main grievances with the job were insufficient pay and the overtime work — all issues she said she hoped a union could address. 

“I care about the job, and I care about the students — I would wake up and help them whenever they would knock on my door at 2, 3, or 4 a.m.,” Anderson said. “But you’re never given credit for any of that work, and they’ll say you’re the most important student employees on campus, but they don’t treat you that way.”

For Anderson, restrictions on speaking with the press were another decisive factor in forming a union. The current job description contains a media policy prohibiting CAs from speaking on behalf of the department that was communicated to CAs in the fall of 2023 by Amanda Vann, former Associate Dean of Students for Residential Engagement & Wellbeing. 

Anderson was interviewed for The Student in September 2023 about new dorm furniture. She told The Student that the quality seemed lower and that the furniture had yet to arrive at the dorm where Anderson was living, impacting the programming she hoped to put on for her residents. After the article was published, Anderson said Vann had threatened to fire her.

“[Vann] basically said to my [community development coordinator] that unless I spoke to [my supervisor] and apologized, she would fire me,” Anderson said. 

The updated media policy was rolled out at staff meetings later that semester. 

“It was blatant censorship,” Anderson said. “And that was the moment where I was like, ‘We need a form of representation and protection beyond the boundaries of this school because, in my experience, Amherst College treats you very differently when you’re a student versus a worker.’”

In February 2023, Anderson reached out to a union representative for UFCW Local 1459, who informed her that the CAs could form a union to improve their working conditions. The union representative informed them of what the process would look like: They could start by recruiting union leaders and getting in touch with CAs who would regularly attend union meetings before going public with their unionization efforts.

Anderson said that one reason the process took years to come to fruition was that students were busy with other jobs, club meetings, and classwork. 

“Ideally, it would not have taken that long. You need to be pretty flexible and you need to move fast in union work … but it was challenging,” Anderson said. 

This year, unionization efforts reached a tipping point at an all-staff meeting on Nov. 19, when Leigh Bucey, director of residential engagement, announced significant shifts to the role. These changes, and the lack of student input on their rollout, convinced a considerable portion of the workforce to sign union cards — 15 CAs signed on after that meeting alone. 

The meeting announced the new 2025-26 CA Position Description, which transitions wages from an annual stipend to hourly pay, eliminates 13 CA positions, and potentially no longer requires some CAs to live in the communities they oversee. The new structure also introduces a new “lead CA” role, who would provide guidance to regular CAs in addition to carrying out standard responsibilities and receive a higher hourly rate.

Currently, new CAs are paid $6,000, second-year CAs are paid $6,500, and third-year CAs are paid $7,000. The newest position descriptions listed on Workday post the hourly pay as either $17 for regular CAs or $19 for lead CAs. According to union organizers, these changes represent a drastic pay cut — at least a $2,000 decrease if CAs were to work seven hours a week, as is listed in their current contract. 

“[Other CAs] are really unhappy with that. People see it as a sort of devaluation of our role,” one CA said.

Another CA said they were initially wary of a union because they believed that the CA advisory board, which they are a member of, was a sufficient avenue for CAs to communicate concerns to the administration. However, they signed the union card immediately after the Nov. 19 meeting.

“All the changes were not communicated with [the CA advisory board]. I feel so shocked, betrayed, and played with. We were just a prop, a performative group to check a box,” they said. “With such big changes, we should have a voice.”

Aside from the CA advisory board, CAs were given the opportunity to share their grievances last spring at a town hall meeting with Dean Angie Tissi-Gassoway. CAs described being moved between residential dorms with little notice and lacking clarity or institutional support in their roles. Organizers said many of those issues remained unresolved months later, fueling the desire to form a union.

To get signatures, organizers met and messaged with CAs individually. Still, it was “very difficult to connect the workforce,” according to one organizer. Some CAs declined to join the union, citing concerns about potential union busting, fear of administrative retaliation, and uncertainty about future union dues. Organizers said these hesitations were common early on, especially among those unfamiliar with how union protections or dues structures work — these exact numbers will be decided once the union is officially formed, but will not be costly, an organizer said. 

Organizers said they reassured CAs that the administration cannot retaliate due to the National Labor Relations Act, a federal law that protects the rights of employees in the private sector to unionize without facing retaliation. Their names are not attached to a union vote due to the requirement of confidentiality in all union elections. 

Organizers added that they are pursuing voluntary association, rather than an election through the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), because voluntary recognition allows a union to form as soon as the college agrees that a majority of workers support it. By contrast, an NLRB election requires a formal federal process — one that organizers said has become increasingly uncertain for student workers under recent national rulings and shifts in the Board’s directory during the second Trump administration. They opted for the voluntary route to ensure that CA working conditions would not be subject to potential reversals at the federal level.

Amherst College union organizers also had informal conversations with Mount Holyoke College’s resident advisors (RAs), who successfully unionized in 2022. Originally, their administration declined to voluntarily recognize the union, meaning that the National Labor Review Board had to schedule a union election, which was a unanimous yes. All Mount Holyoke College RAs are required to join the union and are billed $5 a week for union dues, but they can participate to whatever extent they choose. After a semester of negotiations, Mount Holyoke College RAs were able to double their pay — it is currently up to almost $16,000 per year, according to August Owens, a senior at Mount Holyoke College.

Owens added that since its establishment, the union has also been able to put a clear and documented accountability process in place, preventing unjust terminations or repercussions. In comparison, Amherst’s CA contract states that CAs can be “removed from their position at any point at the discretion of the Associate Director of Residential Engagement, regardless of the outcome of any … conduct process”. 

A different local union organizer added that there are alternative avenues if Amherst’s administration fails to recognize the unions. According to them, CAs could pursue the labor board election, which could take time and depends on the administration in Washington, because labor laws fall under the executive branch. They could also hold a recognition strike, withholding labor. 

“Ultimately, we’re really excited about all of the momentum that’s been happening this semester, and it feels like the CAs are really ready for it, and it seems like the campus is really ready for it,” one organizer said. “And I really hope that the administration is ready for it too, or that at least they’re willing to take the chance and believe us when we say that this is the best way forward.”