Reed College's Campus Safety Officers (CSOs) are rallying this morning to protest the college administration's resistance to their unionizing efforts.

Reed has a total of around ten full-time and part-time CSOs. Their job is to act as first responders to any on-campus incidents, and serve as liaisons between police officers and paramedics and the Reed community. (They also perform more routine campus safety tasks, like helping students who have been locked out of their dorms late at night.)

Reed’s CSOs began considering unionizing in late 2018, and met with college officials in January of this year to negotiate a unionizing process. Dashiell Harrison, a member of Reed’s class of 2016 and a current CSO told the Mercury that he supports a unionization effort because a staffing scarcity and outdated equipment have created an unsafe working environment, and because he feels there is a general lack of respect for CSOs from college administration.

One example of unsafe working conditions for Reed’s CSOs: It has become increasingly common for CSOs to work shifts without partners, which Harrison said leaves them vulnerable in the event of a campus emergency.

“When I first started, it was virtually unheard of to have a CSO out in the field themselves,” Harrison said. “And now you show up, and it’s like, ‘You’re going out by yourself, have fun.’”

With widespread support for a union among Reed’s CSOs, they chose SEIU Local 49 to represent them—but the logistics of unionizing is a little trickier for them than for other workers. That’s because an obscure rule in US labor code prevents security guards from organizing with “mixed unions,” or unions that represents non-guards. That means the CSOs could not join SEIU Local 49 through a normal voting process; however, guards can join a mixed union if their workplace voluntarily chooses to recognize the union.

According to Scott Cheesewright, an SEIU organizer, Reed has so far refused to agree to an alternative process for recognizing unionizing CSOs.

“Overall, the college has used legal technicalities to prevent community safety officers from showing their majority and having their union recognized,” Cheesewright said.

When reached for comment, Reed’s administration sent the following statement:

“The Reed Community Safety Officers (CSOs) are a valued and important part of the Reed community. Reed College respects the right of CSOs to organize. The college is following all the rules and regulations of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Act regarding employee rights and union organizing. The college has been asked to recognize a union in lieu of a vote sanctioned by the NLRB. For the college to voluntarily recognize a union would be to eliminate each CSO’s right to choose representation.”

The CSOs filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board two weeks ago. They are also prepared to go on strike, though Cheesewright said they “certainly hope to avoid taking that step.”

This morning's rally deliberately coincides with the college's commencement ceremony. As a Reed alum, Harrison said he expects to gain sympathy from Reed students and alumni.

“If you had asked me when I was a student, I would have thought, perhaps naively, that Reed would be a very pro-union work environment,” he said. “It has this reputation as being a bastion for liberalism and progressive values.”