Resident Assistants (RAs) and Resident First-Year Mentors (RFMs) at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center Campus have announced a majority of them have signed Union Authorization Cards to join Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 153. Student Workers have requested voluntary recognition from University Administrators, citing recent instances of sudden and arbitrary terminations as a core motivator for organizing. Their counterparts at the Rose Hill Campus are already represented by Local 153. “I decided on to start collecting interest for Unionization,” said Om Patel, an RFM who is a leader in the Unionization effort. “I reached out to OPEIU for their general contact saying I think I have reason to believe that there might be interest in Unionization again. I don’t think this is possible without the network that was built by other Members who were doing outreach. It was all on them. By myself, there’s no way I could do this.”

For More On This Labor News Report, Go To: RAs and RFMs Petition to Unionize - The Observer