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WUGWU endorses Bernie Sanders for president
The WashU Undergraduate & Graduate Workers Union (WUGWU) endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2020 presidential election.

“Following a member vote, WUGWU is proud to stand with other labor organizations around the country and endorse Bernie Sanders for the 2020 Democratic nomination!” the group announced on Twitter, Feb. 23.
WUGWU formed in 2016 to address the needs of graduate degree candidates, such as better pay, a grievance procedure and improved child care subsidies through advocacy and direct action campaigns.
“Endorsing a candidate is in the spirit of our mission to build power and organize for workers’ rights both at Wash. U. and in the St. Louis region,” wrote Grace Ward, WUGWU’s co-chair of allies and engagement, in a statement to Student Life.
To pick a candidate to endorse, WUGWU issued a secure poll to each of their members.
“A union is its members, so it was crucial to poll our membership democratically—one member, one vote—to determine this endorsement,” WUGWU Membership Chair Charles McCrory wrote in a statement to Student Life.
Sanders received roughly 74 percent of the vote, Warren received roughly 25 percent, and all other candidates received less than 1 percent.
“As indicated by the overwhelming support expressed by our membership, Bernie is the best candidate for labor,” Ward wrote. “His commitment to increase union membership by 50% nationwide over the course of his time in office sets him apart. Really, all of his other flagship policies—student debt reform, Medicare for All, the Green New Deal—speak directly to the interests of our membership.”
Union members highlighted Sanders’ slate of progressive policies as reasons for supporting his candidacy. Sara Katz, a member of WUGWU who has been organizing for the Sanders campaign in St. Louis, specifically pointed out the importance of Medicare for All.
“We have student workers on this campus who cannot afford basic daily needs, who forgo doctor’s appointments and who ignore mental health needs,” Katz wrote in a statement to Student Life. “We also have students on campus who perform work every day without compensation—including emergency first responders and resident assistants.”
WUGWU is one of many national and local labor organizations to have endorsed Sanders, who is widely considered to be the most liberal candidate in the race.
“In electoral politics, unions like WUGWU are valuable resources,” Ward wrote. “Leading up to the MO primary and into the general election, WUGWU is working to mobilize our members and allies, show strength in numbers and provide community in a campus environment that otherwise can be pretty atomizing.”
Students from WashU for Bernie expressed their satisfaction with the union’s endorsement, citing the ways that Bernie’s policies align with union values.
“It’s really heartening for Bernie to get WUGWU’s endorsement,” sophomore Philip Keisler wrote in a statement to Student Life. “Just as Bernie has changed the national conversation to a place where a $15 living wage is mainstream, WUGWU through protest and organizing has done the same on campus. Unions like WUGWU that are fighting for guaranteed childcare, better healthcare and a living wage are at the center of Bernie’s movement.”
The union’s endorsement came just a day after Sanders swept the Nevada caucuses, standing out from a crowded field of Democratic candidates to gain almost half the total vote.
“I think people are starting to understand that Bernie Sanders’ campaign is the campaign of working people,” freshman Spencer Chrein wrote in a statement to Student Life. “Aside from the direct impact of the policies he seeks to advance such as providing everyone with healthcare and student loan forgiveness, there are tangential benefits for union workers specifically. I think most people who are a part of a union notice the constant exchange of their healthcare coverage for benefits such as wage increases and paid leave. When we have Medicare for All, union workers [will] have more time to focus on getting other benefits from their employers.”
In January, Sanders introduced the Respect Graduate Student Workers Act in an attempt to protect the right of graduate workers to unionize. Keisler cited the senator’s history of protecting the rights of students.
“Bernie is the best candidate for working students not just because of his policies, including eliminating student debt, expanding unionization and establishing a $15 minimum wage, but also because he has stood side by side with workers on picket lines more than any other candidate,” Keisler wrote.
Not only has Sanders consistently proven that he is dedicated to protecting unionization on a national level, he has shown support for workers in the St. Louis community.
“Right here in St. Louis, when SEIU Local 1 janitors and allies risked arrest to demonstrate for a living wage in January, Sanders tweeted his support for the action,” McCrory wrote. “Sanders’ commitment to workers’ rights is unparalleled by any other candidate running, and is one of the many reasons I cast my vote to endorse him.”
Moving forward, Ward encouraged undergraduate and graduate student workers to join WUGWU, as well as to get involved in the Sanders campaign by recruiting friends, phone banking, canvassing and assisting with voter turnout efforts.
“In my opinion, it is only a matter of time before this message catches on across the nation,” Chrein wrote.