University of Colorado Boulder’s graduate student labor union is setting its sights on expanding its membership to employees across the university system.

The Committee on Rights and Compensation, started by graduate students in 2016 and still unrecognized by CU Boulder, will vote on affiliating with Communication Workers of America in April.

One of its primary goals in affiliating with the national union is to create a “wall-to-wall” union at CU’s four campuses, said CRC spokesman Alex Wolf-Root.

“We need to address how CU treats its workers and we can’t rely on a good faith effort for them to do it on their own without more pressure from more folks,” Wolf-Root said. “We’re also recognizing that so many of our problems are tied up with how the campus segments its workers and doesn’t give most of them a voice. We need to change how power is concentrated at the university and make sure that power and voice goes back to all workers on the campuses.”

Graduate students have received requests to join their union from a variety of university employees, said CRC board member Janet Ruppert, ranging from custodial workers to faculty. Affiliating with the national union would make that possible.

“We recognize our common struggle for ensuring a safe workplace and sufficient benefits and compensation and workers rights, and we all have the same employer,” Ruppert said. “The mission of higher education is getting lost as universities are becoming increasingly privatized and are moving online. How do we push back against the under-resourcing of our university?”

CU Boulder announced Tuesday that it would begin offering six weeks of paid parental leave and subsidized dental insurance to graduate students who work as teaching, research or lab assistants or as part-time instructors.

CRC members have organized protests, sit-ins, walk-outs and other advocacy since 2016, focusing on issues such as compensation, benefits and mandatory student fees.

The university did not mention CRC’s advocacy in its release.

CU Boulder Spokeswoman Deborah Méndez Wilson on Wednesday declined to comment on the possible affiliation.

“As a university, it’s our practice not to engage in speculation,” she said in an email.

Low pay is an issue for graduate students and other university employees, said CRC member Tanya Roussy, and employees who earn low wages are often one crisis away from financial peril.

“I think CU is one of the biggest employers in the state and CU has been disregarding the welfare of their workers for far too long,” Roussy said. “It’s time we took back our power and made it so they can’t ignore us anymore.”

By affiliating with Communication Members of America, CRC would join a 700,000-member union that spans information technology, health care, education and more.

In a statement, Méndez Wilson said CU Boulder’s relationship with graduate students is “primarily educational” and that the university is working to address student concerns and has already done so through expanded benefits and increased compensation.