On Feb. 5 and 6, the United Campus Workers (UCW) union and Campus Workers Association (CWA) 7799 spoke at the Board of Regents meeting at CU Boulder to continue their campaign for collective bargaining rights for university employees.
The CU at the Table proposal would extend collective bargaining rights to nearly 53,000 faculty members, staff, graduate workers, undergraduate workers and hourly employees. Rights include the ability to negotiate wages, benefits and working conditions.
UCW and CWA 7799 represent all four campuses within the CU system: UCCS, CU Boulder, CU Denver and Anschutz Medical Campus. Colorado and Virginia are the only Democrat-led states without collective bargaining rights for higher education employees, according to Colorado Public Radio.
Jessica Ellis, staff researcher at CU Anschutz and president of the UCW, said that collective bargaining rights address worker issues, such as the cost-of-living crisis and salaries.
“The only viable path to solving those problems long-term is to have a seat at the table as a collective and to have a mechanism to make the university actually talk to workers and to let us help write the policies ourselves, which is what collective bargaining is,” Ellis said.
UCW and CWA 7799 hosted a rally on campus in November 2025 prior to a Board of Regents meeting in Berger Hall. While on campus, UCW and CWA 7799 collected signed collective bargaining cards from student employees, faculty and staff.
According to Ellis, the collective bargaining cards were a way for the union to demonstrate widespread support of the policy and to bring the issue to the Regents’ attention.
UCW received public support from Regent-at-large Elliot Hood and Regents Ilana Dubin Spiegel and Wanda James in January. According to an official UCW press release, Hood and Spiegel will co-sponsor the policy to expand collective bargaining rights.
“As a former unionized teacher, I believe that every employee deserves a voice in the workplace and should have the right to collectively bargain and join a union,” Hood said. “It’s the right thing to do for our workers, who are essential to our university’s success.”
The policy has also received endorsements from District 10 representative Junie Joseph and Boulder City Council member Nicole Speer, according to the Boulder Reporting Lab.
Ellis said that the union has made good progress toward its goal since November by forwarding the conversation about collective bargaining and getting endorsements from UCCS student government and other unions. “We’re glad that the Springs could show up in support of that,” she said.
UCW plans to attend every Board of Regents meeting this semester. The next meeting will be held on Apr. 16 at CU Denver. According to Ellis, UCW encourages all university employees to attend Board meetings, demonstrations or UCW information sessions, regardless of union member status.
“This is a regular part of a healthy and functioning university workplace. I think having conversations with those different shared governance groups has also been really important to get collective bargaining on people’s minds and kind of force the issue,” Ellis said.
UCW and CWA 7799 are still accepting collective bargaining cards and new members. “Joining the union is the best way to get involved. This whole movement does not happen without worker power,” Ellis said. “We need thousands of workers to join and to give this campaign the strength that it deserves.”
The Board of Regents has scheduled the vote on the resolution for their June 4 meeting.
For more information about UCW and CWA 7799 or help getting involved, visit the UCWC website or contact Ellis at [email protected].