Following 10 days of striking for pay increases, resident assistant benefits, grievances and more, the University of Oregon Student Workers Union ended its strike late on May 7 when it reached a tentative agreement with UO administration. 

Both bargaining teams agreed to a $16/hour base pay, increased benefits for RAs, and arbitration for student workers, among several other articles in their contract.

Previously, UOSW proposed an $18.50 hourly base wage while UO proposed a $15.44 hourly base wage. The current base pay offered to student workers is $14.70. 

Student workers will be able to vote on contract ratification from May 9 at 10:00 a.m. until May 14 at 5:00 p.m.

Ryan Campbell, a member of UOSW’s bargaining team, said the RA roles were split into three roles with 65% room and board compensation for the “community builder” role, and 85% compensation for the “community safety assistant” role. The third role, “community coordinator,” will provide 100% compensation. The changes would not occur until the 2026-2027 academic year.

The safety assistant role will not have roommates, while the community builder role will be assigned a roommate after a selection process.

Arbitration for harassment and discrimination grievances was added to the contract. Campbell said the “main stipulation” is that arbitrators are not in any union and have the designated training. 

Why some student workers went on strike, and some didn’t

During the strike, some services on campus were not operational, including the Jordan Schnitzer Art Museum, service desks and several on-campus cafes. Some dining halls were also operating with limited menus for the duration of the strike. 

Students who were both on the picket line and back at work shared the motivations behind their choices.

Mara Hindery-Glasinovic, a sophomore, said she was in support of the strike. 

“I think it’s really important, and I’m glad there’s a lot of dedication on campus,” Hindery-Glasinovic said. “I’m not a student worker, but I have a lot of friends that are, so I support them.” 

Sofia Cervantes, another UO student, also expressed her support for the striking student workers. 

“I think it’s amazing that they’re able to have the right to fight for what they want and what they know that they deserve,” Cervantes said. 

Cervantes also said she was impressed by the student workers’ ability to picket for extended periods of time. 

“I’ve seen them out there at like 8 a.m., I get out of class at like 6 (p.m.), and they’re still out there,” Cervantes said. “It hasn’t had any negative, nor would I say positive effect, I’m just very aware of what’s going on,” Cervantes said. 

One student who works at the Output Room in Lawrence Hall and wanted to remain anonymous, said she chose not to strike because she “couldn’t afford to.”

“I know that you can get money from picketing, but that’s only if you work for 15 hours and I don’t have time in my schedule to picket for 15 hours because right now, I work 10 and a half hours and that’s squeezing the absolute max out of my schedule,” she said.

The student said that even though she didn’t strike, she’s supportive and sympathetic of the students who did strike.

“I’m very supportive of the cause and I have been reposting things on my social media and I watch the picket lines and everything, so I kind of just support from a bystander perspective,” she said.

The student said she didn’t experience any hard feelings from the union about not striking, but felt pressured when the union was deciding whether to strike or not.

“Some of our workers (went on) strike and so our hours are a little bit different now and it really just messes with the whole way of students’ everyday lives,” she said. “For example, here, we have a lot of midterm reviews going on right now because we opened at an earlier hour, more students were stressed out, setting up everything.”

A student who works at the Passport Office and wished to remain anonymous chose not to strike because of the limited number of employees at the office. 

“We have (a) staff of like less than 10 people, and this is a government job, and we’re government trained, and it’s hard to leave. Our staff members deal with a large crowd of people, handling one customer takes like 30 minutes. So when that adds up, it gets really stressful and I feel really bad putting that burden on my staff and my co-workers and my supervisor because they don’t deserve that,” she said.

Isabella Bartocci, a sophomore student, said she was glad about the agreement, but had concerns about how UO was treating its student workers. 

“I think the school is f***ed up for how they’re treating student workers and RAs and everything,” Bartocci said. “It hasn’t been necessarily affecting me, except for everything that’s been shut down.”

Despite her disappointment with the lack of resources around campus, Bartocci also expressed support for the strike.

“I think it’s good that people are getting involved with stuff they care about,” Bartocci said. 

Editor’s Note: This article is as of 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 9, due to The Daily Emerald’s print production process. Any updates or changes in relation to the tentative agreement and ratification vote can be found on The Emerald’s website.

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