A Union That Wins

This section centers on multiple publications produced by the United Workers Union–Independent (UWU-I) that document the organization’s early history, campaigns, and guiding principles. The publications trace the union’s development from the Staff Rights Organizing Committee (SROC) and the first staff strike at the University of Washington to later actions, including sit-ins, campus protests, and broader community organizing efforts. Through these accounts, the publications demonstrate how independent labor organizing became a platform for collective action and political advocacy among low-paid university workers and students.

Central to the union’s philosophy was the belief that the needs of those most marginalized, particularly women, minorities, and low-paid workers, must be prioritized in order to achieve broader workplace justice. Their organizing efforts connected traditional labor demands, such as fair wages and safe working conditions, with struggles against discrimination and barriers to advancement faced by marginalized communities.

The featured pages highlight the leadership of Yolanda Alaníz, who was elected president of the United Workers Union–Independent in 1976 after organizing alongside SROC as both a founding member and educational coordinator. Her public statements against discriminatory wage policies reflected the union’s broader commitment to equity, worker representation, and the important leadership roles women held within labor activism.

For example, in “A Statement to the Higher Education Personnel Board,” activists and workers associated with the United Workers Union–Independent challenged discriminatory labor practices at the University of Washington while criticizing existing unions for failing to protect low-paid employees, women, and workers of color. The statement argues that university policies reinforced inequality through unfair hiring, promotion, and wage systems that disproportionately harmed marginalized workers.

The document emphasizes independent union organizing as a response to institutional discrimination and inadequate representation within traditional labor unions. It calls on the Higher Education Personnel Board to address inequities in employment practices and recognize workers’ demands for fair treatment, equal opportunity, and meaningful workplace representation.

More broadly, the statement connects labor activism to the larger civil rights and feminist movements of the late twentieth century by linking workers’ rights with struggles against racism and sexism. Through documents like this, Mexican-American women and other marginalized workers demonstrated their active role in grassroots labor organizing and broader pushes for social equality.

In the 1980 United Workers Organizer article “Education is a Right, Not a Privilege,” activist Yolanda Alaníz criticized new admissions policies within the University of Washington’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), arguing that they unfairly targeted low-income and minority students. The article explains that EOP was originally created through student activism and affirmative action efforts to support students who faced systemic racism, sexism, and economic barriers in education. However, new policies introduced by Minority Affairs director Herman Lujan emphasized strict admissions standards, testing, and “merit”-based selection, which Alaníz and other activists believed contradicted the program’s original mission.

The article documents widespread resistance from students, staff, labor unions, feminists, and community activists, including protests, rallies, sit-ins, and boycotts organized through the Coalition for Equal Education Programs (CEEP). Alaníz highlights how activists connected educational inequality to broader struggles for labor rights, racial justice, and affirmative action. She argues that affordable education and support services, not academic exclusion, were necessary for student success. The article ultimately calls for unity among workers, students, and community organizations to defend affirmative action and equal access to higher education.

By concluding with materials and statements from the United Workers Union-Independent, The Picket Lines on Paper emphasizes the critical yet often overlooked role that Chicanas, Tejanas, and Latinas played in labor organizing and social justice movements across the United States. The experiences documented in Washington represent only one example of a much larger history of Latina-led activism, solidarity, and resistance.