Students and faculty are gathering signatures to form a union for employees of Associated Students, Inc. amidst allegations of discrimination and union-busting for ASI workers at Sacramento State. This comes after members of the California State University Employee Union held a campus action rally titled “Stop Worker Abuse at ASI” on March 4 in the library quad.
An employee of 14 years was allegedly suspended from the ASI for speaking about forming a union. Shortly after, allegations of union busting, discrimination and a hostile work environment were raised against ASI by CSUEU and other student workers.
The employee’s name has been redacted due to concerns about their job security, but according to an internal ASI email that was shared with The State Hornet, they have since been reinstated.
In response, ASI Executive Director Hoan Nguyen published a press release on Monday night denying the allegations of union busting, stating that the employee under suspension is being investigated for “inappropriate and intimidating conduct.”
The press release also acknowledged the allegations of racial discrimination at the ASI Children’s Center, stating that an independent investigation will be initiated soon.
“ASI recognizes its responsibilities to investigate allegations of employee misconduct brought to its attention by other employees,” the press release said.
The allegations were brought forth by LaRetha Breazell, a student and former associate teacher for the ASI Children’s Center. Multiple other female employees have resigned from the center citing racism, discrimination and a hostile work environment.
RELATED: Former ASI Children’s Center employees allege director cultivated hostile work environment
Michael Lee-Chang, a junior political science major, is part of the CSUEU bargaining team and said he would like to start working on CSUEU’s contract with ASI.
“I’m already part of the union CSUEU Unit 15, the undergraduate student assistants,” Lee-Chang said. “We’ve been fighting for our first contract, and I’m on the bargaining team.”
Lee-Chang said the school administration is making it difficult to advance the contract process through a lack of transparency and long wait times.
“Their best method is just dragging their feet, getting details on what we’re even meeting about, when they’re holding the meetings,” Lee-Chang said.
Senior communications studies major Orlando Rodriguez is currently the promotions and event coordinator at KSSU radio station, an ASI department, and has worked there for around three years. Rodriguez said he supports the unionization efforts and joined CSUEU around three weeks ago, when he was first approached by ASI union organizers.
Higher pay are selling points for some employees, such as Rodriguez, who hope that collective bargaining will help accomplish these goals.
Rodriguez said he currently gets paid $16.50 an hour but he would like to see his wage increased to around $18-20. He said he has had pay raises in the past, but each one only increased his wage by around 10 to 15 cents. He said that with increasing inflation and a need to pay bills, the current wage for ASI positions are not sustainable for student workers.
Isaac Ocegueda, an undeclared sophomore, has been working at KSSU for less than a year as a production assistant. He said he supports the formation of a student worker union at ASI and plans to join the organization.
Ocegueda said the main reason he’s interested in joining the union is the possibility of wage increases.
“We’re all starving college students at ASI,” Ocegueda said. “Even though it’s a quote-unquote easy job, a lot of it does feel like you just don’t get paid enough for it.”
Low wages are not the only issue that both Rodriguez and Ocegueda said they have experienced. Rodriguez said that the work culture within KSSU has become more strict and stifling since fall 2024. He said he feels the shift in attitude makes it difficult for student workers to express their ideas and creativity, leading to general unhappiness.
“We actually had fun working,” Rodriguez said. “Now, we’re kind of stuck in a little rut.”
Ocegueda has also noted the strict atmosphere and said he especially notices it when working on social media posts. He said the process can be very mechanical, not allowing much freedom of expression and only focusing on production.
“It feels like sometimes the student staff doesn’t really have a voice,” Ocegueda said.
Rodriguez said he also feels that student voices are being silenced at KSSU and made note of an email sent to KSSU student workers on Feb. 17 that stated they should not speak to media unless authorized.
Rodriguez said he hadn’t been made aware that workers couldn’t talk to the media. He said he later went to check the ASI Employee Handbook for more context, but could not find a related policy.
“I know we have our own specific rules about things, but I personally found that very suspicious,” Rodriguez said. “Why can’t we talk to the press if there’s nothing to hide?”
Additional reporting by Rain Barron
