Piers Gelly papers on labor organizing

Content Description

This collection contains display and protest items related to labor organizing in Charlottesville. Represented are items from the United Campus Workers of Virginia chapter at the University of Virginia, a wall-to-wall union organizing public college and university workers across Virginia, and the Amalgamated Transit Union for Charlottesville Area Transit. The collection contains two shirts outfitted with the United Campus Workers of Virginia seal, six pins featuring the same seal and pronoun information, one face mask, two hand-written signs, one printed sign, one printed "Tentative Agreement Highlights" page, and one bandana. One hand-written cardboard sign reads “cut the check” with an image of a check in a guillotine. The other cardboard sign has “UVA to Grad Worker: Drop Dead!” written on it. The printed sign features the text “WE ARE ONE ATU [Amalgamated Transit Union]” and displays the seal of the Amalgamated Transit Union on its face. The verso of the printed sign states “I AM A MAN.” A single printed page titled “ATU Local 1220 Tentative Agreement Highlights” outlines the expected wage increases for workers from July 2024 to July 2026. This collection was gifted by Piers Gelly, an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Virginia. Gelly is involved in union activity at the University, helping author the collaborative book, Hoos Not Getting Paid: the voices of graduate student workers at the University of Virginia in 2024. United Campus Workers at the University of Virginia is a chapter of the Communications Workers of America, whose seal is displayed on pieces in this collection.

Acquisition Type

Gift

Provenance

Gift of Piers Gelly, 16 December 2024.

Language of Description

English

Restrictions Apply

No