This Tuesday, March 10, The Student Workers of Columbia (SWC) voted to strike should Columbia University not meet their demands.

On March 10, UAW Local 2710, the Student Workers of Columbia (SWC) authorized a strike on all student teaching and research labor at Columbia, according to a press release on March 11. The result was 91.5% approval, with 1129 votes in favor and 105 against, with over 75% of its total membership participating in the vote. 

The SWC is a union that represents graduate and undergraduate students who work as teachers and researchers. Their most recent strike was in the fall of 2021.

The union aims to obtain from Columbia “protections against ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], pay that matches cost-of-living, expanded healthcare benefits, commitments to academic freedom, divestment from companies that violate international law, and more.” The SWC’s full list of public demands also includes adjustments to working conditions and protections against artificial intelligence. The union intends to go on strike if Columbia does not agree to their stipulations. 

SWC members are to meet over the next few days to solidify a deadline for the strike, “which could be as soon as next week.” The first contract between SWC and Columbia, ratified in January 2022, ended on June 30, 2025. Negotiations have been ongoing since March 28, 2025, with the SWC accusing Columbia of “making zero substantive concessions despite on-campus consensus that the University is in a state of emergency,” mentioning  NYPD presence at campus protests and participating students facing suspension, expulsion, and degree revocation, including the then-president of the SWC.

A major concern of the union is the welfare of students who may be targeted by ICE. The SWC alleges that Columbia has failed to protect students without citizenship status, citing former member Mahmoud Khalil (SIPA ’24), who was detained by ICE last year, and “[a]t least one member of the SWC” who “has been forced to flee” the US. The union says some workers fear Columbia will assist the federal government in arresting or deporting them.

Further, the union claims that Columbia refused to follow suit when other universities challenged President Donald Trump in cutting their funding, instead reaching an agreement with the Trump administration. They also allege that the Columbia administration has cut “nearly every” job of graduate instructors and pays students workers 61% of cost-of-living, compared to other Ivy League universities such as Brown, Dartmouth, and Yale that cover 95-100% of cost-of-living expenses in compensation.

To emphasize their need for a strike, the SWC specifically points to Executive Vice President Amy Hungerford as receiving “nearly a million dollars in compensation” despite the union’s current demands. They also make reference to Vice President of Human Resources Daniel Driscoll stating that Columbia has “done a fantastic job” supporting international students, according to SWC bargaining notes from January 23, 2026, a little over a month before ICE’s detention of student Ellie Aghayeva (GS ’26). “A strike may be the only option unless Columbia concedes on the Union’s demands,” concludes the SWC.

2018 Strike via Bwarchives