Frequently Asked Questions

Forming a union with collective bargaining rights is the only way to have the power to negotiate with the UA Administration as equals and reach a legally binding contract. 

This effort began when staff started talking together about how to improve our working conditions and decided to organize with UAW. Currently, the UA administration has unilateral control over our pay, benefits, and workplace rights. Many of us have high work loads, low pay, and few career advancement opportunities. Aspects of our jobs that we like can be changed at any time without our input. For example, remote work agreements can be cancelled abruptly and our health insurance plans can be altered without our opinions being taken into account. With a union, we gain the right to collectively bargain with UA and a greater voice in our workplace.

Recently, graduate workers at the University of Alaska came together to form UAW 1907 (also known as AGWA-UAW) and bargained a first contract which secures higher pay, full fee waivers, improved job security, workload and nondiscrimination protections and much more.

While UAW began as an auto worker union, there are now over 125,000 higher ed workers in UAW, making UAW one of the largest unions of higher ed workers in the country. In the last year, over 10,000 staff (and counting) have formed unions with UAW at public universities in California and Washington.

UAW has historically been one of the largest and most diverse unions in North America. By joining this movement, staff will also gain political power to impact policy and funding decisions on the local, state, and federal levels.

Our union includes all permanent staff at UA with the exception of supervisors, confidential employees, and employees of the UA Foundation. In December 2025, CAUSE-UAW, UA Administration, and the Alaska Labor Relations Agency met to determine who, based on the law, should be included in our union. The parties agreed that while there are some staff who meet a high threshold of supervisory or confidential duties, the vast majority of permanent staff are in our union. If you’re wondering whether or not you’re in our unit, please email us at info [at] cause-uaw [dot] org.

As part of our mediation with UA last year, we agreed on a short list of who have high-level supervisory duties. If you are a “supervisor” who meets the legal threshold and therefore not included in the unit, you should have received an email on January 28th, 2026. If you have questions about your status, please reach out to us at info [at] cause-uaw [dot] org.

Under Alaska labor law (see 8 AAC 97.990(a)(1)) a confidential employee "means an employee who assists and acts in a confidential capacity to a person who formulates, determines, and effectuates management policies in labor relations matters." This would include someone who works with University administration on contract negotiations or grievances.

This does not necessarily include everyone who works in HR or in various administration offices, only those who act in a confidential capacity in labor relations matters (negotiations, grievances, etc.). As part of our mediation with UA administration at the end of last year, we agreed that a small number of staff met the definition of “confidential” as outlined in the law. If you’re considered confidential and therefore not included in the unit, you should have received an email [insert details]. If you have questions about your status, please reach out to us at info [at] cause-uaw [dot] org.

Yes!  Workers in all those designations could organize their own unit. If you are interested in doing so, please reach out!

Being grant-funded is not unique to staff or UA. Many other unionized employees at UA (including faculty and graduate workers) are partially or fully grant-funded. Historically, when these groups have won raises in their Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA), UA includes these raises and other benefits in the cost of the CBA they present to the state legislature. The state legislature then appropriates the funding for the costs of these raises and other benefits.  Some contracts also include wage escalators further into the future, since these can be easier to anticipate in grant cycles.

Fundamentally, with collective bargaining, we have an equal say with the University administration in determining compensation or other terms/conditions of employment, so will gain far more influence in figuring out a system that works for grant funded positions.

In addition, there are several UAW locals at other institutions such as the Academic Researchers at UC and the Researchers, Scientists, and Engineers at UW that are almost entirely grant funded. Not only have these units not experienced job losses due to their unionization, but they have secured stronger job security through their CBAs, including bridge funding for PIs and greater transparency around changes that may affect their funding. By unionizing, we stand not only to win better benefits, but also stronger job security. Academic Researchers at the University of California actually had to fight for a provision that would allow them to *reduce* their FTE in the event that they needed to spread funds out (the university administration didn’t want to allow this). 

International workers have the same rights to sign union authorization cards and participate in their union as domestic workers, regardless of visa status. Per state law, the Alaska Labor Relation Agency is also obligated to keep union authorization cards and votes cast in an election confidential and only review them to determine whether there is sufficient support for unionization. 

In fact, international workers hold many of the leadership positions in higher education unions, including in AGWA-UAW 1907, the graduate worker union at UA. Through our unions, international workers have negotiated additional rights and protections we otherwise would not have, including protections against discrimination of any kind and unjust discipline that could impact our visa status. 

By forming a union, we gain a greater say in how our workplaces function. We determine our bargaining priorities together through extensive surveys, conversations, votes, and more. We can negotiate for clearer job duties, which can make it more transparent when people are excelling at their jobs, and when they aren't meeting expectations.

What we can also negotiate for are stronger protections–such as workload protections and protections against discrimination and harassment—for us when we have coworkers who don’t do their jobs or make the workplace a hostile environment.

Many of us who are organizing our union also like our current working conditions–including remote/hybrid work, flexible schedules, and more–and that’s why we want to form a union. Right now, UA Admin can change the things we like about our working conditions without our input. By forming a union, UA will be required to bargain with us before making any unilateral changes.

Our university system has struggled in the past, and while funding has stabilized within the past few years, recent events have reintroduced uncertainty. That’s why it’s so important to be at the table when the administration is making decisions that affect us. With a union, we are legally entitled to complete, transparent information about the University’s budget so that we can be sure that we have a real say in priorities. It also enables us to make responsible choices about our contract.  

Moreover, there are a number of policies that are not directly tied to the budget (for example, remote work agreements, protection against discrimination and harassment, etc.) that we can improve only when we have the ability to bargain as equals. 

Further, as unionized workers, we will have greater power in the state legislature than we do now. In 2024, the graduate workers were able to not only secure funding for their Collective Bargaining Agreement, but also helped push for increased funding for UAF to support its R1 goals. Together, we can use our voices to advocate for both ourselves and our university system.

Collective bargaining is a process, recognized and protected by state law, that equalizes the power relationship between employees and their employer. After unionization, we begin that process of collective bargaining to reach a legally binding contract with the UA administration. 

Collective bargaining is a democratic process with many steps. First, we vote to elect a bargaining team of our colleagues. Then, through our participation in town halls, surveys, and discussions, the bargaining team drafts a set of initial bargaining demands. Staff then choose whether to ratify these demands The bargaining team would then negotiate with UA administration and come to a tentative contract agreement with UA. Before that agreement can go into effect, all staff have a chance to review and vote on whether or not to ratify it. If we vote to ratify the tentative agreement, then it becomes a legally enforceable contract. 

Without collective bargaining, UA has unilateral power to change our working conditions. For example, the UA administration currently decides unilaterally whether to provide staff with annual raises or not, how much we pay for parking and healthcare, what our remote-work options are (if any), etc.

We will not pay union dues until after we have bargained and democratically ratified our first contract. At that point each individual staff employee can decide whether or not to become a dues-paying member. UAW membership dues are 1.44% of gross income*.  

Dues are important because our union doesn’t receive outside funding - all the resources we have to run our union and negotiate with UA Admin come from members pitching in. Union members democratically decide how union dues are spent, and create accountability: we all can and should decide whether the value of a collective bargaining agreement is worth union dues. Arguably we have paid more as a result of not having the power that comes from forming a union.

*For your staff position at UA. Income from other employers or non-staff positions at UA would not have dues deducted.

We will. A great benefit of having a union is that there are established structures and procedures for making decisions, communicating and resolving issues, and the legal and administrative structures to support and facilitate this that we can adapt to our context in Alaska. Being a chapter of a union organization does come with some rules and guidelines (to keep everything legal and copacetic), but as long as local chapter decisions fall within those, the members elected representatives of that chapter make decisions through a democratic process.

Right now we have no say and have no control over decisions that directly impact us. That distinction belongs to the University administration.

Some of the most common issues that come up in our conversations so far are:

• Salaries not keeping up with the cost of living across Alaska

• Expensive and inadequate health insurance coverage

• Unclear job security and vulnerability to sudden reorganizations of units 

• Inconsistent and unprotected remote/hybrid work policies

• Unclear and inequitable promotion policies and advancement/reclassification pathways

• Workload interfering with life and lack of protections from overwork

• A lack of say over our working conditions and lack of consideration for our input

• Protections from unjust firings and retaliation

Through unionization and collective bargaining, other UAW academic workers have won:

• Guaranteed, predictable pay increases to keep up with cost of living 

• Better healthcare with improved coverage for dependents

• More transparent and enforceable career development provisions

• Stronger protections against arbitrary layoffs,  and the right to performance reviews

• Stronger protections against harassment and discrimination

• Childcare subsidies and more support for parents

• Workload protections

• Clear policies around remote work, vacation and sick time, and increased paid time off

• A grievance process to address contract violations in a clear and timely manner

• And much more

That will be up to us! The decision to strike (like all others within the union) is democratically made, and in Alaska, requires 50%+1 of all members of the unit to vote yes.

No. It is unlawful for employers to retaliate against employees for union activity. Unionizing, and talking to coworkers about unionizing, is legally protected. 

Like other large employers, UA has generally opposed efforts to unionize amongst its employees. That said, UA graduate workers successfully formed their union recently, and many of those involved in organizing have gained permanent positions at UA as faculty or staff.

It’s also important to note that bargaining happens with the UA Admin, not individual supervisors, so many workers have found that their relationships with supervisors have improved because they no longer have to push their supervisors to advocate to address problems stemming from decisions made higher up. 

Awesome! Email info [at] cause-uaw [dot] org.