The RTO Pay Cut: Georgia Campus Workers Fight for Living Wages and Remote W

As the University System of Georgia enforces a sweeping return-to-office mandate, staff members are facing a harsh reality: commuting costs are effectively gutting already poverty-level wages. In this episode, we sit down with David Hyde (UCW-GSU Chapter Chair) and Rachel Schrauben Yeates (Kennesaw State University Member-Leader) from UCW-CWA Local 3821. They reveal the staggering data behind the mandate—including a 100 percent increase in retirements at Georgia Tech—and discuss the irony of a Board of Regents that joins meetings via video call while denying those same remote options to their workforce. We dive deep into: How a "Right-to-Work" state organizes without collective bargaining rights. The "Defend Remote Work" campaign and the push for a $41,000 living wage. The upcoming legislative strategy to legalize public sector bargaining in Georgia. Why the RTO mandate is driving a "brain drain" across Atlanta’s major universities.