About the National Undergraduate Worker Convention

The National Undergraduate Worker Convention (NUWC) is an annual convention held by the Undergraduate Workers Union.

Like many things student workers create, NUWC all started with a pitcher of margaritas. After attending the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions, a group of us debriefed the week over some tacos and realized it would be great for undergraduates to have a place all for ourselves to talk about our labor struggles, how to organize, and how to fit into the labor movement at large.

The 2019 convention was a huge success. 40 of us from 10 different universities came together to share the highs and lows of our work, the ins-and-outs of our organizing campaigns, and tips and tricks to help each other advance their campaigns and avoid burnout. We had excellent trainers who volunteered their time to teach attendees how to beat apathy in the workplace, the basics of a union, how to have one-on-one conversation, and how to successfully plan a campaign. In between training sessions, we would talk to each other over coffee and snacks about the history of undergraduate organizing, or when we were all really tired, we just made buttons and talked about avoiding our academic work.

While we had a great 2019 convention, we realized we can and we will do so much more. So we decided to make NUWC an annual event, and out of NUWC the Undergraduate Workers Union was born.

In 2020, we went virtual. The 2020 convention was headlined by Jane McAlevey and attended by student workers from across the country. Over a hundred student workers from dozens of campuses came together in the early days of the pandemic on Zoom to learn about organizing and build relationships with each other. Since that convention, several unions that attended have won recognition!

Now we aim to keep building. After a pandemic hiatus, we are back in 2023 with a convention in October. You can learn more and register here.