Who are we? What is LOCC?

We are Community Coordinators at Brown University, forming a Union to have a real say in ResLife at Brown.

The Labor Organization of Community Coordinators, or LOCC,  is an organization that fights for the well-being of all of us. LOCC is a democratic, worker-run organization that only exists because some brave CCs decided to create it! Together, we are standing up and fighting for a better workplace.

What is a Union? Why should we have one?

A Union is an organization of workers who come together to fight for changes in our workplace that we couldn’t win otherwise. When we form a Union, we win the right to negotiate a contract with Brown admin while building an organization that can help us continue improving the quality of life for not just community coordinators, but all workers in the Brown community.

How do you form a Union and who can do it?

Almost anyone can form a Union! If you have a boss or employer and you work in the US, you have the right to form a Union (even if you’re an international student!). To form a Union: 

• First, workers need to talk to each other about each others’ workplace experiences and why they want a Union. One-on-one conversations are the foundation for any Union campaign!
• Next, the majority of workers at a workplace who are doing a similar job need to show their collective interest in forming a Union. We will do this by signing Union Authorization Cards (you can sign at this link).
• When a super-majority of us have signed auth cards, we will hand a petition to the Brown administration demanding that they voluntarily recognize our Union. If Brown refuses to voluntarily recognize us, we will have an election, just like TALO did.
• When Brown either voluntarily recognizes us or we win our union election, our Union becomes official!

What should I expect during the unionization process?

The unionization process isn’t easy. If it was, every workplace would already have a union. What you can expect in this process is lots of conversation and collaboration from your peers. A co-worker will probably reach out to you asking about what is important to you about working as a CC at Brown, how your time here has been, and what issues have been affecting you. It’s important to have open and honest conversations about what you and your co-workers are experiencing, so that you can best fight for one another and negotiate a contract that addresses your issues! On the other end, you can expect lots of obstruction and confusion from Brown admin. Do you think Brown wants you to have a union? If admin’s response to past union campaigns is any indication, we think that answer is ‘No.’ You can expect a handful of confusing emails that tell you “Do your own research, be informed!” as well as a website that will probably look something like this or this.

What can we win if we form a Union?

Nothing is guaranteed, but so long as we are willing to take collective action together, we can make some big wins. We ultimately get to decide what we want to propose and negotiate in our first contract. Concretely, though, we can win meaningful pay raises, clearer work boundaries, stronger policies against discrimination and harassment,  and more. Most importantly, we win the right to file a grievance, that is, if admin or faculty violate any provision written in the contract, we can begin a formal process that forces them to correct and resolve the issue.

Why do we have to form a Union to get these improvements?

By forming a Union, we get to have a seat at the decision-making table. The grads have shown us how powerful having that seat can be. Grads started organizing a decade ago, and across that time, their wages have increased between 35-50% percent. TALO has shown it too, recently winning some massive over-work protections, as well as a $5/hr wage increase that admin extended to all undergrad TAs on campus. Our peers at other colleges are organizing and making big wins as well. We think we should do the same.

What is a contract, and why do we need one?

In short, admin can give us their word that they are going to do something, but a contract forces them to actually do it.

A contract is a binding document that two or more parties agree to. So in our case, we are negotiating a contract between LOCC, which represents the CCs and our interests, and the Brown University administration. 

Without a contract, we simply have to rely on Brown’s word that they will follow the policies that they set out for us. With a contract, we get to have a real say in those policies, and if Brown or faculty don’t follow those policies (for example, not paying us on time, asking us to work more than required, discriminating against us based on our race or gender or harassing us in any other way, etc.), we can have a legal process to address and fix it. 

Dues… What’s that about?

Union dues are super important! Because our Union is independent from the University (we don’t get money from SAO!), we need to fund our organization. When we negotiate contracts with Brown admin, we win strong improvements to our compensation. So we take a small percent of that, and we pool the money so that we can keep winning better contracts. Our dues help fund professional staff, organizing resources, office space, and legal support, because, to be frank, labor law can be a little complicated.

Dues for our Union are 1.65% of gross compensation, but because we expect to win a substantial increase in compensation, your cost of dues will be fully covered by our contract gains!

What will happen if my AC finds out?

Organizing a Union is a federally protected right under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). It is illegal for your supervisor to retaliate against you in any way for supporting a Union, and it is against the law for your AC to ask you if you signed a card or support the union. 

Voting for a Union or signing a Union card are anonymous acts. But it’s important to mention that our power comes from our willingness to take collective public action together with our co-workers. The more of us that are public about our support for organizing, the more power we have and the more likely we can force Brown to negotiate better terms in our first contract. We are stronger when we stand together.

What is the risk of retaliation and how does a Union protect me? 

Organizing a Union is a federally protected right under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). It is illegal for your supervisor to retaliate against you in any way for supporting a Union. Voting for a Union or signing a Union card are completely anonymous acts. But it’s important to say that our power comes from our willingness to take collective action together with our co-workers. The more of us that are public about our support for organizing, the more power we have and the more likely we can force Brown to negotiate better terms in our first contract. We are stronger when we stand together.

The Union protects you in two general ways:

• First, you are a part of an organization rooted in collective action. When workers take action together, by signing public petitions, by staging rallies or events or protests, they put pressure on bosses to make the right decision. GLO has had great success fighting for Grads who are being pushed out of their programs, often helping grads secure additional semesters of funding, simply by threatening collective action against department administrators.
• Second, when you have a Union, you have greater legal recourse to fight any kind of workplace problem that is protected by both your contract and federal and/or state labor law.

How will Brown respond? Will they punish us?

On the contrary! Brown will likely give us some immediate concessions. This is what happened when Undergrads organized TALO in 2023. This is what happened when Grads organized GLO in 2018. And this is exactly what happened when a few Starbucks baristas in Buffalo, NY organized in 2021: Starbucks raised the starting wage for every barista in the country to over $15/hr.

We already know how Brown is going to respond. They’ll probably make a website called “Be Informed,” like this one for the Undergrads and this one for the Grads. They’ll also probably send out misleading e-mail messages to everyone in the Brown community, like the one you may have seen over the summer about GLO contract negotiations. The question to always ask is: “Do you think Brown is telling the whole truth?”

Brown isn’t like Amazon or Walmart, though. Brown admin cares a lot about its “progressive” image, so we expect their “union-busting” to simply take the form of these websites, some working-groups, and some misleading emails. 

I’m a non-citizen/international student. Can I be in a Union?

Yes! In the United States, workers rights are much stronger than all other non-citizens rights. So if you work a legal job in the US, you are entitled to every protection that comes along with that. That includes the right to join a union and organize for better working conditions with your co-workers.

What happens if we go on strike/what is the process for strike?

Going on strike is the most serious action a union can take, and because it is such a serious decision, it will absolutely be a democratic decision. The current process for calling a strike involves first a recommendation from leaders from our union. Then, our entire membership votes on a strike referendum, which requires a ⅔ majority support to pass.

Here’s a really fantastic FAQ on strikes from the Columbia Post-Docs Website:

Will I lose any of the benefits I already have?

No! Winning a union contract is not just about improving wages and working conditions, but also keeping what you already like about what you have. Your current compensation and benefits package will serve as the baseline from which researchers will bargain their contract.