After months of bargaining sessions with the University, the union for postdoctoral and associate researchers says it plans to strike on November 1 if its demands are not met by then. 

The Columbia Postdoctoral Workers union (CPW-UAW 4100) has announced it plans to strike starting November 1, unless the University agrees to “[put] forth a reasonable and comprehensive economic package and engages in good faith bargaining.” 

In a statement released yesterday, union representatives wrote that CPW has participated in over 25 bargaining sessions with the University in an attempt to negotiate a variety of new contract provisions. In particular, the union has been bargaining for increased wages, a larger housing stipend to match rising city-wide housing costs, and enhanced support for parents, among other priorities. However, CPW says “no meaningful progress” has come from these sessions. 

Now, the union plans to begin its strike on November 1, unless the University puts forward a proposal that CPW finds satisfactory in meeting the aforementioned demands. Otherwise, the strike will begin with picket rallies at both the Medical Center and Morningside campuses, both scheduled to run from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm.

The potential strike was authorized in August in a 98% “yes” vote by current union members, of whom there are over 1600. The union is made up of two categories of researcher: postdoctoral and associate (ARS) workers, both of whom conduct a diverse array of research across Columbia’s campuses, bringing in millions of dollars in research grants and other funding. “Postdoctoral and associate researchers at Columbia conduct groundbreaking, award-winning research in various fields: from curing cancer or neurodegenerative diseases to tackling the most pressing environmental threats or public health crises,” wrote CPW representatives in Friday’s press release. According to financial statements released by Columbia’s Board of Trustees, postdoctoral and associate research scientists helped bring in around $1.8 billion in research funding for the University from July 2022 to June 2023. 

The strike deadline was strategically chosen on the part of CPW—it comes just four days before the National Institutes of Health’s November 5 deadline for grant renewals and resubmissions. This means that if the union is still on strike when the NIH deadline passes—a likely scenario if the strike moves forward—the University could lose out on millions of dollars in research funding for the next year. 

“We can still avoid this strike,” said postdoctoral researcher Michael Mauro in the union’s Friday statement, “but the University has been dismissing our demands for more than six months, and we need to focus on our research projects, so we will strike until the University brings a proposal that truly meets our needs and recognizes the value we bring to this institution.”

Friday’s strike announcement also comes a month after CPW filed an Unfair Labor Practice claim against Columbia with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging the University was engaging in “bad faith bargaining.” In particular, the union claimed Columbia was “delaying discussion on key topics such as compensation, and breaching the status quo after contract expiration [by] pressuring members to settle for a dismal contract.”

Presently, the minimum salary for postdoctoral workers at Columbia is $60,000, which the union says is considered “low income when adjusted for rent burden in New York.” Instead, the CPW has proposed a minimum salary of $72,000 for postdoctoral researchers and $83,648 for ASRs, in addition to a $7,000 housing stipend. According to the union’s Friday statement, in recent bargaining sessions, the University has offered to raise this minimum to $64,500; however, CPW says this would still fall short of the compensation needed to realistically afford adequate housing in the City. Notably, the University has said its most recent offer would actually increase the minimum salary to $65,000 for postdoctoral researchers and $71,606 for ASRs.

Further, CPW claims it was “particularly motivated” to strike after viewing a financial report for the fiscal year 2022, which, according to CPW, revealed the University would only need to use “0.2% of its $8.3 billion in unrestricted funds” to meet all union demands.

In a statement of its own, the University said its most recent offer of settlement, presented to CPW on August 31, “would make Columbia one of the most competitive employers among its Ivy-league peers.” According to the University, this offer would increase Columbia’s childcare contributions, create a $400,000 hardship fund for the reimbursement of unexpected medical expenses or housing assistance, and provide relocation payments for new postdoctoral researchers and ASRs, among other provisions. However, the offer of settlement still falls below CPW’s initial requests, providing an 8.33% increase to minimum compensation where, according to the University, CPW requested an increase of at least 20%. Further, where the union asked for an annual pay increase of 6-8%, the University’s proposal included an increase of just 3%. The proposal did not directly address CPW’s demands for a housing stipend.

At the time of publication, it is unclear whether Columbia will respond to the announcement with a new counteroffer before November 1, thus preventing the looming strike. The University has declined to comment.

This is a developing story. 

Editor’s note: This article was updated on October 20 to include additional information on negotiations provided by the University.

Campus via Bwog Archives