On Wednesday, May 10, undergraduate student workers at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, went on strike. The workers are represented by the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW), the first independent undergraduate labor union in the United States. The union says it is going on strike in response to the administration’s refusal to address its contract demands over the pay and working conditions of undergraduate community advisers (CAs), the college’s version of resident advisers (RAs).

After the union announced the strike, workers say, the administration sent an email to the campus community declaring the walkout illegal and threatening workers who participated with retaliation; the union has since filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge. Last week, Jacobin contributor Sara Wexler sat down with two student workers to discuss the situation of Grinnell CAs and why and how they organized to strike.