The semester is coming to an end and we want to thank everyone for another great semester of organizing and building our union. This semester we held town halls and department meetings in over half of the departments on campus, and we plan on continuing to have them through the summer. We tackled the 2014 1042-S tax fiasco and forced the university to make progress in resolving this issue (many continue to receive bill notices from the IRS). And we are now one step away from winning back our collective bargaining rights and having our union election – the National Labor Relations Board is expected to make a decision this summer!
As we’re gearing up to make history we welcome everyone to be a part of organizing we’re doing leading up to our election:
End of the semester meeting and happy hour! Monday, May 16th, 4-6PM. Meeting will be in Hamilton 302, followed by happy hour at Bernheim & Schwartz (2911 Broadway, between 112th and 113th).
Our Union, Our Voices – help tell us tell your colleagues why you’re voting UNION YES! We will be launching a media campaign on why we want a union and voting UNION YES! If you’d like to take part, please send us a high quality photo of yourself where you leave space (left or right) for a quote. Check out this sample here. If you’re on campus we can also meet up and take a photo for you.
And tell us (please answer all four):
Why do you want a union?
How will a union improve your life and Columbia University?
What is your contribution to Columbia’s world-class teaching and/or research?
How is the union already helping graduate workers at Columbia?
Email us your photo and answers at columbiagradunion@gmail.com
GET MORE INVOLVED. Whether you’re here all summer, here for a month, or back in August, if you’d like to get more involved please fill out this form and we will contact you.
We are working with the Tenant’s in Towers 2 and 3, at the medical campus, to organize a Tenant’s Association! Our next meeting is this Wednesday, May 11th @ 4:15pm — Bard Hall, 11th Floor
The tenants have experienced electricity cuts, interruption of laundry and dryer service, incessant noise from nearby construction, interruptions in elevator service, water discoloration, service requests ignored and arbitrary enforcement of housing policy. Since March 22nd Towers 2 and 3 have been without gas. Throughout all of this, Columbia Housing has neglected to provide forewarning of service interruptions or new construction. Many have individually contacted Housing to ask for information about ongoing work-basic questions about when service will return to normal, and how they will be compensated. Instead, they’ve received misleading, vague, evasive, and sometimes even aggressive responses. We will meet to discuss our options, ways to collectively begin communicating with Columbia Housing, and what kind of compensation is most appropriate.