We write with an update about the hardship fund disbursement process. We have finished reviewing all of the applications from the first round; if you applied, you should be hearing from us in the next few days (if you haven’t already). The next round of applications will be due on April 14, 2021. Please follow this link to apply.
We received 125 applications during this first round and have given out over $34,000.
We have approximately $146,000 left from the gofundme money. We hope to continue to raise more funds; to that end, please consider sharing and boosting the gofundme so that we can continue to support our fellow workers in need!
We want to share our decision making process in disbursing the money so far. In general, the goal has been to make up for wages lost due to striking. This means that we calculated how much money you would have received from the university had you been working normally, subtracted the amount you could receive from the UAW hardship fund (if you were eligible to receive that money), and then gave applicants the difference between those two sums. In case you were not eligible for the UAW hardship fund, we covered that amount as well.
We understand that many of you requested more money than we disbursed to you. Specifically, many people whose payment from the university comes partially in the form of a stipend at the beginning of each semester applied to the fund in anticipation of having to give some of that stipend money back to the university; but because Columbia has not yet done that, we did not pay out money to cover lost stipends in this round. Needless to say, we will update our process in case the situation changes.
Because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the strike and the amount of money we will ultimately be able to raise, we have tried to be fairly cautious in disbursing this money. However, we want to assure you that we are fully committed to giving out all of the money raised from the hardship fund to members of our unit. We will continue accepting applications, evaluating the ongoing situation, and disbursing money until we have given out all of it. If you already applied to the hardship fund but have since lost more wages due to striking, or if some other aspect of your application has changed, or if Columbia’s wage-docking process changes, please apply again! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about this process, please get in touch with us at gwchardshipfund@gmail.com
In solidarity,
The Hardship Fund Committee