At colleges and high schools across the country YDSA chapters are building student and worker power – and winning big. This year YDSA chapters have launched undergraduate student unions, won higher wages for campus workers, guaranteed reproductive healthcare for students, and won tons of other major victories. Now it’s time to bring this movement to your school – sign up for the 2023 Fall Recruitment Drive today!
When you sign up for the drive you will be plugged into a training tailored to your level of organizing experience. No matter what stage of organizing you’re at – leading a chapter with hundreds of members or just getting started on your own – experienced YDSA organizers will be there to support and train you. Please check out the different choices for how you can get involved this year.
After you attend a training call you’ll be able to order your Chapter Building Kit containing a YDSA banner, posters, buttons, and stickers – everything you need to run a powerful recruitment drive at your school!
If you’re launching a new YDSA chapter or restarting a chapter that’s become inactive:
If you’re a leader of an already existing YDSA chapter:
Here’s what some YDSA chapters have been up to this year. Sign up for the Fall Drive today, and this could happen at your school next!
Oakland YDSA, Detroit, MI
We won a $15 minimum wage for all campus workers after a continuous pressure campaign over the course of a couple semesters. We started a petition, and tabled every week for months, slowly gaining hundreds of signatures, a big deal in what is usually a very apolitical university. Using that momentum we made our demands, and were met with pushback from the administration. Through our continued focus on a campus-wide wage, we came together as a chapter and organized. Our campus minimum wage was $10.10 but through our outreach, meetings, and protests the administration just so happened to find enough money to increase the wage to $15 an hour. A near 50% increase, an astonishing victory!
Wesleyan YDSA, Middletown, CT
Thanks to our campaign, Wesleyan will ensure that there is no financial cost borne by students to access abortion by covering all medical costs after insurance, paying for transportation to and from the clinic, and providing appropriate pain-relief medication after the procedure. Additionally, they have agreed to provide emergency contraceptives (Plan B and Ella) to all students on campus, free at the point of service. At a time when the government is failing to defend people from right-wing, reactionary assaults on basic human rights, students are organizing, fighting back, and challenging the balance of power on college campuses.
University of Oregon YDSA, Eugene, OR
UO Student Workers began in early 2022 as a project of UO YDSA’s labor committee, with the aim of doing advocacy and solidarity work for campus undergraduate workers and GEs, as well as lay the groundwork for unionization. In fall of 2022, that work came to fruition as UO YDSA helped kickstart— and become the nucleus of— the campaign to unionize the University of Oregon’s student workers, wall-to-wall. Once certified, UO Student Workers will be the largest union to come out of any DSA effort, as well as the largest majority undergrad union, representing nearly 4000 workers, and the first independent wall-to-wall union at a public university (with many more hopefully to come)!
Here’s some more info about the support you’ll get through the Fall Drive:
New Chapter Trainings
We’ve designed this training specifically for students starting new YDSA chapters or trying to revive or relaunch chapters that have gone dormant. We’ll start with organizing basics and give you everything you need to jumpstart your chapter this Fall. No prior organizing experience necessary!
Returning Chapters – Fall Kickoff Strategy Meeting
This call is for new leaders of chapters that are carrying over from Spring 2023 or earlier. At this meeting you’ll get the opportunity to work with and learn from student leaders from chapters across the country. We’ll go into deeper depth about making a recruitment strategy, developing new leaders, and running a successful strategic campaign. Plus you’ll get to meet YDSA’s new national leadership and get involved in national campaigns and projects.