“You’re just a step on the bossman’s ladder,” the verse from Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” could be heard outside the Shapiro Campus Center on Sept. 12 — not just as a tribute to Parton, who  passed on August 25, but as a call for increased compensation for Brandeis staff members who gathered in recognition of Labor Day. Parton was notoriously a champion of worker’s rights and an apt hero for Thursday’s protest. Members of Service Employees International Union Local 888, which represents staff members at Brandeis, alongside graduate students, professors and students protested in solidarity as contract negotiations between Local 888 and the University’s administration continue. 

Brandeis staff have been negotiating with the administration for a fair contract since this February. Negotiations have “been a challenge … because Brandeis is really not committing to the table,” said Mei Lyn Huq, an external staff organizer for SEIU Local 888, in a Sept. 12 interview with The Justice. “That’s why we’re having a rally today — to show that the union is not going anywhere,” she continued. Brandeis staff unionized in 2024 after “the University announced that it would delay the merit increase for all staff members” in March of that year, according to a Nov. 5, 2024 article in The Justice. While merit increases were reinstated in April of 2024, a round of layoffs in May further galvanized staff, who officially unionized in January of 2025. The contract currently under negotiation would be Local 888’s first contract at Brandeis. Local 888 represents staff such as clerical workers, department coordinators, academic administrators and more. 

“It has been inspiring to witness the positive results of Brandeis staff coming together in 2024, sharing our individual stories, and speaking out in public to form our union,” said Eileen Kell, an academic administrator for the Education Program at Brandeis, in a 2025 statement from SEIU. The statement continued, “this union victory puts staff at Brandeis in position to make positive change for themselves and their coworkers by coming together to address their collective issues.” SEIU represents about 2 million people across the United States, including staff at other Boston-area schools such as Tufts University, Emerson College, Boston University and the University of Massachusetts. 

Concerns from 2024 have persisted as the University began its reorganization of academic departments, including new initiatives “that integrate [Brandeis’] graduate professional programs into its liberal arts curriculum,” according to an Aug. 4, 2025 article from Brandeis Stories. The article continued, “By infusing professional education into the liberal arts, Brandeis is pioneering a first-of-its-kind approach designed to connect rigorous academic learning with practical, career-focused applications.” While these initiatives were presented in collaboration with faculty members, some staff members have faced major disruptions to their role as a result. 

In a Sept. 10 interview with The Justice, Rebecca Strauss, a University art technician and a member of the SEIU 888 organizing committee, claimed that recent struggles regarding contracts could be attributed to “really long-term mismanagement” and “repeated restructurings” across the school. Among frustrations with vacant positions left unfilled, understaffed departments and a lack of communication, Strauss described pay as a prominent issue, citing that Brandeis historically has relatively lower salaries for staff than other universities.  

Trent P., a member of Local 888’s bargaining committee and a staff member at Brandeis, affirmed Strauss’ claim in a Sept. 10 interview with The Justice. Brandeis pays staff around “$10,000 less than a lot [of other] … universities in America.” Furthermore, costs in the Northeast have risen by 24.5% since 2020 due to inflation and “salaries certainly haven’t kept up.” 

Staff at Brandeis represent just some of the 128,000 people who work at universities across Massachusetts and are facing many of the same challenges, including layoffs, the removal of vacant positions and feeling overworked, according to a Boston Globe article. The article described the financial pressures faced by universities whose revenue is decreasing as a result of new policies under the Trump administration. Those policies have cut research funding and accompanied a growing lack of interest in higher education amongst the general public. In Massachusetts alone, financial pressures have closed Anna Maria College in Paxton and Hampshire College in Amherst. 

For many university workers, the rapidly shifting atmosphere in higher education amid financial issues has only increased fears of job security. According to Zachary Bos, a former Boston University departmental administrator and staff union president, “the working man’s sector of higher ed[ucation] … [is] on the chopping block first,” he said in a Boston Globe article. Brandeis’ ongoing reorganization “means that no one has a sense of security,” said Prof. Sabine von Mering (WGS, CGES) in a Sept. 13 interview with The Justice. She continued, “change is necessary … [but] we’re dealing with human beings. I think … there is a limit to what we can be expected to deal with.” Von Mering is also a member of Brandeis’ chapter of the American Association for University Professors. To her, a lack of transparency in decision-making is most troubling. There are “lots of decisions being made behind closed doors,” she said, which is a change from the bottom-up approach she is used to at Brandeis. “It’s really gonna take a whole movement of people across the entire sector of those [128],000 workers” in Massachusetts to fight for higher pay and better contracts, Huq said.  

In a Sept. 11 statement to The Justice, Michelle Gaseau, assistant vice president for strategic communications and public relations, wrote that they “have been bargaining in good faith and meeting regularly with the Union for negotiation sessions. So far, negotiations have been productive and collaborative.” As negotiations continue, “The University is committed to reaching a fair contract with Local 888 that recognizes the important contributions of these staff members.” 

Outside the SCC, the second half of Parton’s verse could be heard through the crackle of the bullhorn, an optimistic refrain for the future of the union’s negotiations: “In the same boat with a lot of your friends, waitin' for the day your ship'll come in and the tide's gonna turn and it's all gonna roll your way.”

—Editor's Note: Trent P.’s full name was omitted for their personal safety.