FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Jocelyn Silverlight, UAW 2322 President
Jocelyn@uaw2322.org

Amherst, Massachusetts – February 23, 2015 – The Commonwealth Employment Relations Board (CERB) ruled on February 20, 2015 that the UMass Amherst Peer Mentors shall hold an add-on election on whether or not to join the Resident Assistant Union (RAU), a unit of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2322.

Peer Mentors are undergraduate workers who work in Residential Life at UMass Amherst and have been organizing for over a year to win collective bargaining rights. Peer Mentors overwhelmingly decided to file for an add-on election to join the Resident Assistants because of the overlap in their positions.

Peer Mentor organizer Jenna Grady says, “We are thrilled for the opportunity to finally have our voices heard!”

Jocelyn Silverlight, president of UAW Local 2322 has been working with the Peer Mentors for over a year. “We are elated with the decision of the Department of Labor Relations. We are expecting an overwhelming majority of workers who want to collectively bargain over their rights”.

Details about the election are forthcoming.