Colette Walls Collection of UAW District 65 Cornell Organizing Materials

Colette Walls began working at Cornell University in June 1976. During the early part of 1980 she became involved with the UAW/District 65 Cornell union drive as a member of the organizing committee. Ms. Walls was also a member of the Clerical Organizing Committee working to organize the office workers. The significant goal in unionization for the Clerical unit was for women in those traditionally female jobs to have a say in the issues facing them: automation, occupational stress, low pay, low status, and lack of appreciation.

As part of the organizing effort Ms. Walls helped write newsletters and flyers, often drawing the cartoons for them, worked with focus groups, held informational meetings, and appeared on radio talk shows.

After the unsuccessful drive came to an end Ms. Walls continued on her Cornell career, retiring in 2013 as a department administrative manager.

The Active Concerned Employees (ACE) committee was formed in early 1979 in an effort to improve the working life of Cornell employees. By 1980 their efforts began to take the form of unionization and ACE started an organizing campaign. District 65 initially led the drive, but as the drive progressed District 65 affiliated with UAW and by the end of the drive organizing at Cornell was clearly a UAW effort.

Althought the organizing drive initially included a wide array of employees differences in the card-signing rates led to a split. The service and maintenance employees were ready to vote for unionization by the end of 1980, well before the technical or the clerical and library employees were. The service and maintenance employees held a union election on February 24, 1981. The majority voted to unionize, forming UAW Local 2300. After difficult negotiations with the University, which included a strike, a contract was ratified in October, 1981.

Organizing continued with separate Technical Workers and Clerical Workers drives. Eventually the Technical Workers' drive had enough signatures to call for an election. Unionization was voted down in that election. The Clerical Workers' drive never reach the 30% threshold for signatures and was abandoned after over three years of effort.