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Yeah, I'm, sorry, my name is Toby Ruttenberg. I'm a sophomore at AU studying justice and law and sociology. Perfect. And do I have your permission to record today's conversation? Yes. Alright. So today is Monday, March 20th, 2023. I am at Gabriella Folsom on the quad at American University. It's around 12 30 and we are conducting an oral interview for the Preserving the Picket Line AU Staff Union Archive. Thanks so much for joining us here today. So we'll start with how would you describe your involvement in the union or the strike?

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Well, I've been part of the Young Democratic Socialists of America Club here on campus since starting at AU in 2021, so it's been a better part of two years now. And I found myself at the protests starting in I think October of 21 all through my freshman year and then of course it was settled right at the beginning of this school year. But then despite the settlement of the contract I have still remained in contact with some people from SEIU and continued my involvement in union campaigns here on campus and around DC. Let's start. Oh, sorry. Can you pause for a second? I think we're going to get that siren. Campus in and around DC. Hi. All right, there we go. All right, could you walk me through what the week of the strike was like for you? Were you on campus? Were you in class? I unfortunately was not on campus for the strike, I was still at home, but when my dad drove up to Cassell for my move in, we drove right past the president's office and the lawn was full of people with purple shirts, which was a really cool sight to see. And I had heard from people on campus that morning that a lot of freshmen had walked out of the convocation, which was very exciting to hear considering all the work we had done the year before. And then my friend Rohin came running up to me as I was outside announcing that the union had won and that was a very exciting way to rejoin campus for the year. Yeah, a great tone setter.

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Yes, absolutely. What do you consider to be the effects of the legacy of the strike, either in societal changes you've seen around campus or just among the students? I think it says a lot about what's possible on this campus. We obviously have the most progressive student body or one of them according to many sources, but sometimes it's easy to be skeptical about that. It's easy to doubt that students will show out for what really matters. And what I saw last year with the SEIU strikes is that there are a great amount of students who really will show support for the staff that makes this university operate. I noticed that last year in April when we protested outside of the Kennedy Center in the pouring rain and people remained there for hours. And I was blown away by that and it really meant a lot to see that kind of attitude surrounding the strikes. What was the most memorable part of the strike

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for you? I just spoiled it by saying the Kennedy Center, but that was definitely it. It was kind of a surreal moment standing there with my shoes soaking wet, wearing a poncho. And normally I'm kind of a cranky person when it comes to standing out in the rain, being somewhere I don't want to be, but that was somewhere I wanted to be. And I was embracing everything around me, despite the conditions. And the energy was just unmatched. It was a very memorable moment, and one of the most cool things that I've experienced so far in college. I'm curious if you feel the STRIPE experience has kind of changed staff support on campus. Do you feel like you've been better supported since we came back to work? Are things kind of the same? You know, it's hard to say. I think that my support, the support from AU staff has always been great. These are all great people who want to make sure that I have the best experience at college learning and just in every other sense. With that being said, I did have a couple professors mention the strike and the contract and knowing how much it meant to them to see their fellow staff being supported by the students made it feel a lot more meaningful. I know that these people really want to help us. And I do believe that what has happened through the strike has made the staff even happier to be here for us. I'm curious also, you might not have this kind of a broader question, but I'm curious about the overall attitude of students. Like, did you notice it was a lot of indifference or a lot of positivity or just kind of...

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You know, it's very mixed. I think that in the circles that I'm in, in the sense of YDSA, there's a lot of energy and it was definitely difficult to see our energy go down after the strikes ended, because we were very invested in that. As a whole, it's hard to say. You can't really gauge the public's perception all the time. But as I said, in April of last year at the Kennedy Center, I really underestimated the support of the students. So I think that with upcoming campaigns regarding SEIU or perhaps the dining workers with Local 23, we could see a lot of support from students. I think that's an attainable goal. Stellar. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about that I haven't asked? Yeah, I definitely think that, you know, SEIU, as important as it is, is not the only union on campus. Our dining staff is I know in the process of bargaining and we've seen a lot of our workers wearing local 23 pins So I think that solidarity among unions on campus and among every worker is the only way that we can achieve collective victory. So I'm looking forward to seeing how the dining staff is supported throughout this process. Awesome, great. Well, thank you so much again for joining us. We really appreciate your contribution to the archive. Just so you're aware of next steps, we'll be processing this interview in the coming weeks and transcribing everything. So, we'll share a copy of the transcription with you and if you desire you can make any changes at that time. We're collecting these videos on behalf of the AU Staff Union. The collection will then be turned over to the AU Archive to be digitized and made publicly accessible for research with the exception of materials that the union would like to maintain privately. Your contribution has been very helpful to this project. Thank you again.

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Yeah, thank you. Appreciate it.