Labor issues at the University of Washington extend far beyond the classroom. The university is home to a number of organizations dedicated to connecting academia and workers while advocating for change, from labor unions to student groups.

Campus Unions

UAW Local 4121

UAW Local 4121 is the Union for 4,500 Academic Student Employees (ASEs) – Research Assistants, Teaching Assistants, Staff Assistants, Readers/Graders, Tutors, and Fellows and Trainees doing similar work – at the University of Washington. In addition to negotiating and enforcing important workplace improvements for ASEs at UW, UAW Local 4121 members fight for social and economic justice on campus and in the community through participation in a broad range of organizations and struggles.

WFSE 1495

WFSE 1495 is the campus-wide union of the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE), including Library, Custodial, Harborview Medical Center Security and Staff, and Skilled Trades units at the University of Washington.

SEIU 925

Over 5,000 people who work for the University of Washington are represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 925. Accountants, parking attendants, graphic designers, budget analysts, cashiers, medical technicians, librarians, and many more people working on campus and at medical centers are represented by SEIU Local 925.

Student Groups

Young Democratic Socialists of America UW

YDSA's mission is to educate and organize students and young people, and to play a helpful and principled role in the movement for social justice. Within and throughout this struggle, they articulate and defend the idea that true human liberation is impossible under capitalism. YDSA seeks social change which extends democracy into all aspects of life—social, political and economic. This is the struggle for democratic socialism. Their vision of socialism is profoundly democratic, feminist, and anti-racist.

MEChA de UW

Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán at the University of Washington is a student organization that promotes higher education, cultura, & historia. MEChA is committed to advancing the civil and human rights of Latine students on campus and supporting struggles in the community where possible.

Anakbayan UW

Anakbayan UW - We are a mass organization of Filipino youth at UW fighting for national sovereignty and genuine democracy in our homeland by waging local struggles for rights and welfare in our community! Our goal is to agitate, organize, and mobilize other Filipino youth and workers to create genuine social change and solve the issues of our people.

Immigrant Rights are Human Rights: Students for La Resistencia

Students for La Resistencia (SLR) is a registered student organization dedicated to working with La Resistencia to support La Resistencia effects of shutting down the Northwest Detention Center and providing any support necessary to those inside through student mobilization and avocation. SLR upholds the rights and welfare of migrants at the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC), hosts Solidarity Day events at the NWDC to uplift and propagate campaign demands, coordinates campaigns, tabling on campus to spread awareness of the campaign, producing and selling merch and baked goods to fundraise, and researching the environmental impacts of the NWDC. 

UW Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine

This chapter of the National Network of Faculty for Justice in Palestine was formed in 2023 in response to student-led movements calling for the university — and the USA — to confront its complicity in genocide and take ethical action, including divestment. The UW FJP are more than one hundred staff and faculty across the Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma campuses. This group follows the leadership of UW students who engage in both direct action, like liberated zones, and university-sanctioned processes, like engagement with the Board of Regents. This is a multi-pronged strategy that seeks always ceasefire in Gaza and solidarity with Palestine.

Institutional Climate Action UW

ICA is a climate justice coalition of Washington State higher education institutions organizing for universities to cut ties the from fossil fuel industry. Washington's public institutions of higher education must model the clean and just transition that’s required to confront the climate crisis and create a future free from carbon emissions. This group is organizing in solidarity to hold WA public institutions of higher education accountable for their current and future climate-altering investments and impacts.

Climate Collaboratory UW

Climate Collaboratory is a registered student organization focused on bringing together students from various disciplines to collectively engage with climate and environmental issues. CC's goal is to provide students with the resources and knowledge they need to effectively work in interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary teams.