I'm a student worker (no work-study authorization personally) at a private university.
The past couple of weeks I've been more fed up by the fact I've never been given a raise yet seem to be expected to take on the duties of a “senior worker” in my office. I've also become aware of potential wage theft situations for other workers and there currently isn't a system in place for student workers to report anything. HR is only for faculty and staff and all student reporting avenues are for Title IX violations which I (thankfully) haven't experienced. All student workers also make minimum wage, no exceptions I'm aware of.
My main concern is that I know organizing a union can take years and most students are only employees between 2-5 years.
Am I better off just petitioning the university or should I try and raise interest in a union?