Columbus State University employees started organizing our chapter in Fall of 2021. We organized with CSU AAUP members to peacefully demonstrate our concerns and dissatisfaction with the current COVID-19 guidelines in USG institutions, in solidarity with USG workers across the state. Local news outlets such as The Uproar and WRBL covered our demonstrations, along with national news outlets like USA Today and Yahoo! News.
CSU workers began organizing again in Summer and Fall of 2025 and increased the chapter’s membership by 500% in just under 4 months, representing employees of all job classes.
Members have also been active in the community. In June, we joined the Chattahoochee Valley Labor Chapter (CVLC), an AFL-CIO-organized coalition of all the local unions in the area. We also co-sponsored, helped organize, and spoke at the local No Kings Protest in June, which drew nearly 500 attendees. We helped with the July “Good Trouble Lives on” demonstration, which drew 60-70 participants.
Campus members also achieved their first union win. Member Christy Cook in the CSU Counseling Dept. raised her Federal Work-Study student wages from $8/hr to $10/hr. The CSU Financial Aid Dept. is now looking to raise ALL FWS wages! Members worked with CVLC to have our inaugural Wages & Wellness Farmers’ Market. We provided fresh, free, local produce to the East Columbus community and informed the public about unionized labor in the area.
Our current campaign for the 2025/2026 academic year is to get a living wage of at least $20/hr for all employees.
Please follow our Instagram page @ucw.columbusga and email us at [email protected] if you have any questions!
* Why UCW-Colga and not UCW-CSU? Given CSU’s relatively small size and close working connections with other institutions in the area, we also hope to unionize with other public and private universities and colleges in the area, such as Columbus Technical College, Mercer University School of Medicine - Columbus Campus, and Georgia Military College - Columbus Campus.
Columbus State University (UCW-Colga*)