Today at 9 am, members of the Student Workers of Columbia began voting on whether their Bargaining Committee should have the authority to call for a strike if they deem it necessary to further negotiations for a still non-existent contract with the University.

As Fall 2021 gets underway, the Student Workers of Columbia (previously the GWC-UAW) are gearing up for further bargaining with the University and potential strike action to gain a satisfactory contract.

After over two years of negotiations, the GWC-UAW Local 2110 bargaining committee and University officials have created a draft for Columbia’s first graduate worker contract.

This morning, Interim Provost Ira Katznelson updated the community on the University’s perspective and proposals regarding the ongoing graduate student strike. The union, the GWC-UAW, calls it a “step in the right direction,” but demands further assurances of neutrality in the process.

On Thursday, February 25th, the Columbia Union for Postdoctoral Workers held a rally on Low Steps and announced that they will strike on March 15 if their demands are not met.

Today, the Graduate Workers of Columbia (GWC) and the Columbia Postdoctoral Workers (CPW) announced that they have voted in favor of the Framework Agreement set forth by Columbia University last Monday. In order for bargaining to proceed, both GWC and CPW, unions affiliated with United Automobile Workers (UAW), needed to agree to the Framework Agreement before Wednesday, […]

This past Monday, Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and Provost John Coatsworth announced that the university is willing to negotiate with the Graduate Workers of Columbia (GWC) and Columbia Postdoctoral Workers (CPW) unions, both of which are affiliated with United Automobile Workers (UAW). The announcement follows years of the GWC pushing the university to begin […]

Columbia University President Lee Bollinger and Provost John Coatsworth announced today that Columbia has agreed to bargain with the Graduate Workers of Columbia (GWC) and Columbia Postdoctoral Workers (CPW), both unions affiliated with United Automobile Workers (UAW). The announcement comes just a week and a half before November 30, the deadline GWC gave Columbia to agree to […]

Early Monday afternoon, the Graduate Workers of Columbia-UAW (GWC-UAW) released an open letter to President Bollinger, in which it declared to hold a strike authorization vote if the university did not honor the union’s existence. As part of graduate students’ 3-year-long struggle to unionize on Columbia’s campus, this letter comes as a response to Columbia’s January announcement that […]