Over the weekend, Columbia’s administration and their lawyers chose to appeal the regional NLRB’s recommendation to dismiss the University’s objections to our December election. While we are optimistic that the Board in Washington, D.C., will uphold the regional NLRB recommendation and re-affirm our election result, we are deeply disappointed that Columbia and its lawyers have once again used the legal process to delay bargaining. Visit our website to read the full filings, including their “exceptions” to the regional NLRB report, their 117-page brief in support of the exceptions, and the regional board’s decisive rejection of the university’s spurious claims.
Columbia administrators’ continued pattern of opposing the democratic will of RAs and TAs is unacceptable, and cuts against the spirit of our university. Not only did we vote “union yes” by an overwhelming 1602-623 margin in December – a majority of RAs and TAs also reaffirmed support for the union in January by signing on to our petition urging Columbia to drop the objections and come to the bargaining table. Columbia’s effort to annul those votes also ignores the 30,000 allies who signed our petition, as well as numerous elected leaders who have urged the University to respect our democratic vote and start bargaining.
While we will be submitting a formal response to the NLRB, we must also continue to make clear to central administrators that we will not wait quietly while they exhaust the legal process hoping to play for time, stalling until the current presidential administration appoints labor-unfriendly judges and board members. If you would like to get more involved in efforts to bring Columbia to the bargaining table, please send us an email.
GWC-UAW General Meeting: Thursday, March 30 (6:30 pm, Avery 114)
Come to our March general meeting next week. We will discuss the next steps in our campaign to get Columbia to start bargaining, and the Bargaining Committee will give a report on their preparations, which will move us forward despite the University’s resistance. If you have not done so yet, join the nearly 1,500 of our colleagues and fill out the GWC-UAW bargaining survey, which will empower the bargaining committee with the detailed knowledge of your concerns and experiences.