The Communications Workers of America union is trying to organize up to 600 clerical and staff members at the University of Akron.Local President Bob Wise, a telecommunications specialist at AT&T, said UA staff has expressed “some interest” in joining 260 university employees in the skilled trades and crafts who already belong to the CWA.The campaign began this week with a sit-down with UA administrators, who did not appear to be “overly happy” with the prospect of the CWA growing its membership, Wise said.UA spokeswoman Laura Massie said the administration “had become aware” of the CWA effort and has no further details right now.The union needs signatures from at least 30 percent of perhaps 600 eligible UA employees to trigger a vote on representation. Organizers are deciding which job titles might be included in the expanded local.Wise said the time is ripe to unionize more employees because of threats poised by state Issue 2 on the November ballot.While the controversial referendum would reduce many union benefits for public workers, the public battle over the state issue also is highlighting the benefits of union membership, he said.“These [UA] people should be very concerned about what’s going on in the political arena,” Wise said. “People need to wake up and smell the coffee.”Wise said the campaign is being driven by staffer needs for more security and better opportunities.He said they have watched UA faculty benefit from their eight-year alliance with the American Association of University Professors and want the same for themselves.“It’s very difficult to move around at the university, and they are looking for respect,” Wise said. “They are kind of out there on their own.”UA employees contacted by the Beacon Journal declined to comment publicly about the union for fear of retaliation. A handful, however, shared their views on the organizer’s www.uastaffunion.org website.“We are a vital part of the university’s success and deserve the respect which currently we are not getting,” Susan White, an administrative assistant in student judicial affairs, said.“We should be able to feel that we aren’t being overworked and underpaid when others are not — or at least that something is being done about it,” Thea Ledendecker, an administrative assistant in the English department, said on the website.She said by email that other unions have demonstrated how valuable they can be.“At a time when collective bargaining is under a great deal of pressure, I feel it is a time when we should protect and maintain that important American ideal,” she said.Sylvia Juscak, an administrative assistant in the philosophy department, said by email that the staff is “vulnerable because we don’t have a seat at the table to negotiate for the issues that are important to us –– fair treatment, transfers without losing pay and protections against layoffs.”The CWA represents 600,000 employees in public service, health care and education nationwide. That includes clerical staff at three tax-supported universities in Ohio — the University of Toledo, Shawnee State and Cleveland State — and skilled tradespeople at Ohio State.With the exception of management, the clerical workers appear to be the only nonunionized staffers at UA. Two large groups of part-time workers — graduate assistants and adjunct instructors — are not unionized.In addition to the CWA and AAUP, UA employees also are members of the Fraternal Order of Police and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.Carol Biliczky can be reached at cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3729.