Thanks to you, we had a packed room on Tuesday for our first General Body Meeting of the year! With every week that Columbia refuses to bargain a fair contract, to acknowledge our essential contributions to the functioning of this university, we — the members of GWC — only get stronger. Our fight must continue until Columbia recognizes our claim to a say in this university — to affordable child care, full health care, vision and dental care coverage, autonomy in our workplaces, and fair and expedited grievance procedures — and the claims of all other students and workers on campus.
Last Tuesday, we discussed and planned our actions for the fall semester. In addition, we identified key campus groups to work with and issues to continue organizing around, such as sexual harassment, parenting, and international students. We don’t need Columbia’s permission to continue collectively advocating for ourselves and our colleagues or to continue organizing around grievances and changes we care about and need to see happen.
If you could not make the meeting but would like to get involved, please fill out this Google form and feel free to sign up for more than one committee!
Childcare and Accomodation for GWC Meetings and Events
We want to ensure everyone can fully participate in our union. Please let us know if you need childcare or any other accomodation in order to attend any of our meetings and events. You can email us at columbiagradunion@gmail.com
Organizing meetings are every Tuesday, 6 pm-7:30 pm. Leading up to the next GBM, we will be dedicating a lot of time to planning another strike and other actions should Columbia continue to refuse to bargain a fair contract. The more workers we have participating in this discussion, the better informed our decisions will be. Sign up here for email reminders of our organizing meetings! This week, we’ll be meeting in Fairchild 700.
Next General Body Meeting will be on October 10th at 1pm and 6:30 pm, locations TBA. We will collectively discuss a proposed strike plan, presented by the Bargaining Committee. We are working on a possible live stream for members of our union who can’t attend in person to participate remotely.
Don’t forget to wear your union shirt on Tuesdays! Come by our table from 12 pm-1:30 pm, this week in Seeley Mudd Cafe, where we will be handing out t-shirts. Take a picture of yourself working in the union shirt, email us the photo at columbiagradunion@gmail.com, and post it to social media with the hashtag #WeAreWorkers.