First Community College Student Workers Union Formed at Gavilan College

The wave of unionization in higher education over the past decade has resulted in the latest breakthrough: the first exclusive student worker union at a community college, Gavilan College Student Workers Union (GSWU), has been certified by the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) which oversees public sector labor relations. Located in rural Gilroy, California, GSWU represents 117 members who work as peer tutors and mentors, and library and office assistants. GSWU was certified by the PERB on March 6, 2026 after the Gavilan Joint Community College District voluntarily recognized the new union. 

While there are some unionized student workers at private colleges and public universities, most student workers are included in larger bargaining units. For example, the California State University Employees Union boasts the largest number of students in their bargaining unit in the country after adding about 20,000 students in 2024.

Payam Barghi, the union’s co-founder and interim vice president, explained how their  five-member organizing committee built the independent union without the assistance of an outside union like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) or United Auto Workers (UAW). Instead, organizers recruited about eight other workers that helped with different projects, zines, newsletters, videos, editing, and building its website to organize support from campus student workers. 

With more students involved, the self-organizing workers staged a “march on the boss” by acting as an unofficial union, Barghi said. Their meeting with the Superintendent and testimony at the Board of Trustees in 2025 led to negotiations that resulted in extracting an impressive 17% wage increase, a $480 one-time bonus, and free campus parking. College management voluntarily recognized the union in March 2026. When workers unionize, management can agree to recognize their union without PERB or the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) holding a representation vote. Most employers instead try to fight the union before the official vote.

Recognition was a formality because the GSWU had already achieved these important victories. GSWU’s successful organizing demonstrates that even precarious public sector workers can organize effectively without labor law. Formal recognition comes in two forms: voluntary, where the employer recognizes the union, or through a petition to a state entity like PERB in California, which covers local and state public sector workers, or the NLRB, which covers private sector workers, when the employer refuses to recognize. Recognition is helpful but not a precursor to organizing for power and winning changes in the workplace. 

In fact, by pursuing recognition itself, rather than worker power, organizers face delays that give bosses an opportunity to engage in union busting: unions must hold union authorization elections, a process that can take up to a year. After the majority of workers vote for the union, it can take months for a union to hold bargaining unit representation elections. It can then take yet another two years to bargain a first contract, which not all organizing efforts achieve. This is because labor law does not require the boss to reach an agreement but only bargain, creating little incentive to follow the rules. Escalating tactics, such as a march on the boss or strike, as the GSWU did, is a more effective way to extract gains while wading through this complex process.

These tactics are what lead GSWU to be the very first exclusive student worker union at a community college in the US, “This victory is bigger than Gavilan,” said interim vice president Barghi. “We are the first, not the last, and we hope GSWU serves as a model for student workers across the country and shows them what is possible.” While the first, it is certain to be followed by other unionization efforts at community colleges because there is an urgent need for them.

"It shows everyone involved that student work is real work.”

At the bargaining table since March, GSWU is now focused on achieving a $22 minimum wage, rehire rights, holiday pay, and mental health paid time off. Considering the high rate of mental health issues among college students, PTO will be a critical lifeline for many student workers. 

Data and firsthand knowledge support these kinds of demands. Recent studies of community college and California State University students in California have found a large number of students are housing and food insecure. Many students are homeless and even sleeping in their cars. As a community college and CSU faculty member, I have observed many students are working one or more jobs because local and state minimum wages are far too low in one of the most expensive metropolitan areas of the country. 

GSWU joins unionized community college students who are members of community college staff unions in Arizona, Connecticut, and Minnesota. The campus conditions of community college students and their precarious conditions as campus workers make GSWU a successful model for student workers at the many community colleges around the country that have high turnover of students. 

As GSWU interim president Alyssa De Jesus explained in a statement issued by the union, “This is an empowering first step for workers…it paves the way for collaborative work between community colleges and their student workers across the country. It shows everyone involved that student work is real work.”