UAW District 65 Collection
The decision of clerical and technical workers at Boston University to organize with District 65 of the UAW was as rooted in the labor movement as it was in the womens movement. By the early 1970s, office workers at B.U. were dissatsified with working conditions that included — among other grievances — sexual harassment and a classification system that did not value “women’s work.” In 1979 after an intense struggle with the administration, B.U. finally recognized the union and signed their first contract.
The collection includes a printed history and videotape documenting unionization activities at Boston University’s Medical Campus.
The decision of clerical and technical workers at Boston University to organize with District 65 of the UAW was as rooted in the labor movement as it was in the womens movement. By the early 1970s, office workers at B.U. were dissatsified with working conditions that included — among other grievances — sexual harassment and a classification system that did not value “women’s work.” In 1979 after an intense struggle with the administration, B.U. finally recognized the union and signed their first contract. Originally part of the Distributive Workers Union, District 65 had affiliated with the United Auto Workers in 1979, and was instrumental in leading similar efforts to organize white collar workers at Harvard and several other universities.
Printed history, District 65, UAW at BU: The First Ten Years (1988), and videotape, Twice as Strong, regarding unionization activities at Boston University Medical Campus.
The collection is open for research.
Cite as: United Auto Workers District 65, Boston University Local Collection (MS 320). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Acquired from Leslie Lomasson
Processed by Ken Fones-Wolf, 1990.
For more on District 65, see John P. Hoerr, We can’t eat prestige : the women who organized HarvardCall no.: Du Bois Library LD2120 .H64 1997.
- Boston University. Medical Campus.
- Collective bargaining–Professions–Massachusetts–Boston.
- Collective labor agreements–Medical personnel –Massachusetts–Boston–History.
- International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. District 65.
- International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. District 65.
- Videotapes.