Workers uniting: Florida A&M University employees launching new staff labor union
Florida A&M University's staff is launching a new labor union on campus – the FAMU Chapter of United Campus Workers – to address the need for higher wages, adequate staffing and workplace safety after the employees have not had an active union since the end of 2023.
A group of about 20 individuals, including university staff members and other supporters, rallied Monday at the roundabout at FAMU Way and Railroad Avenue to bring awareness to the concerns.
"We're not getting treated fairly under the university's current administration, and we don't like that," FAMU Maintenance Specialist O'Terrian Wilson said. Wilson, who helped establish the new union chapter has been working at the university for over nine years.
"We needed a union to stand up for us," Wilson added. "Hopefully, the administration is willing to talk to us and hear our concerns. We don't want to come in and be combative. We just want to work on how to make things better for everyone at the university."
Wilson and other employees have made attempts to meet with FAMU's interim President Timothy Beard , but with no luck. Attempts to get a comment from the FAMU administration Monday were unsuccessful.
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United Campus Workers, which functions under Communications Workers of America , is a wall-to-wall union. This means that any employee in the FAMU workplace – including staff and faculty as well as graduate and undergraduate student workers – would be able to join, regardless of their job title.
The effort comes after the university staff's previous union – American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which is the nation's largest trade union for public employees – was decertified in 2023 for not meeting a 60% threshold needed to remain active on campus.
The threshold is a result of legislation ( SB 256) that went into effect in July 2023 and created a change from the initial 50% requirement. If the new standard is not met, the union is decertified.
While AFSCME's FAMU chapter had 115 members, it needed another 85 to meet the threshold requirement. The United Faculty of Florida's FAMU chapter also fell short of the threshold but is working on getting recertified, according to UFF-FAMU President Samique March-Dallas, who attended the Monday rally in support of the workers.
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With United Campus Workers, FAMU would become the union's second existing chapter in Florida following the establishment of a chapter at the University of Florida in 2021.
The union is able to function without a contract, but it will not be able to get one with the university until it reaches the state's 60% membership threshold, which Wilson says it is currently working on for certification. Andre Crumity , a senior fiscal assistant at FAMU of over 15 years who was also the active president of the university's former AFSCME chapter, will lead the new union.
The union formation comes as FAMU is currently searching for a new president to take the helm of the university, where Beard has been serving in a one-year interim term since August. The university's goal is to have the next leader named by this summer.
"We're fighting for better pay, better benefits and better treatment," FAMU's Chemical Safety Officer Kevin Timmons said. "Especially since the snafu with our president, we're trying to communicate with the new interim to get some of the things we rightfully deserve."
Although the concerns are factors that impact the university's staff as a whole, Timmons says many of the employees remain cautious about participating in gatherings such as Monday's rally for fear of retaliation.
In addition, regarding essential personnel at FAMU, Timmons said concerns with wages also include not getting compensated for extra work done during campus closures – such as repairs from past hurricanes, tornadoes in May and, most recently, the winter storm that made a historic appearance in the capital city.
"FAMU workers, in whatever level and aspect, need all the support they can get," said March-Dallas, who is also an associate professor of finance at the university.
"It's very hard to bargain with the university, and I know that from experience. It's really important for our workers to know that we can do things together collectively to move the needle."
Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on X: @tarahjean_ .
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida A&M University workers rally for new staff labor union
