On Wednesday, August 14th, we met with Columbia’s bargaining team at the Studebaker Building to present counter-proposals on Employment Files, Holidays, and Paid Leaves. Wednesday was the last day student assistants were covered under the Student Health 100 Plan, and
Bargaining Session #14: Health Care is a Human Right
Solidarity, student workers! We hope you’ve been keeping cool in the sizzling heat of the past week. The GWC bargaining committee kept their cool (the room was incredibly cold, actually) during a four-hour bargaining session with Columbia’s representatives on Tuesday,
Bargaining Session #13 : An offer from Columbia we *can* refuse!
On July 11th, we met with Columbia’s bargaining team to continue negotiating our first union contract. Highlights: We presented our revised proposals on Training, Workload and Appointment Security. Columbia presented a comprehensive updated package of proposals consisting of mostly non-economic
Bargaining Session #12: GWC Demands Columbia Reinstate Critical Health Plan
Student workers! Here’s a summary of our latest bargaining session — June 21, 2019: We demanded that Columbia rescind the elimination of the Student Health 100 Plan, which hundreds of student assistants currently benefit from. Columbia’s bargaining team insisted that
Bargaining Session #11: “There is No Columbia”
We met with Columbia’s bargaining team again at Studebaker on May 12th to present counter-proposals on Appointment Notification, Appointment Security, Union Access, Vacation, and Holidays and to discuss the status on a number of other proposals we made in previous
Bargaining Session #10: Columbia Refusing Real Recourse on Sexual Harassment
Our first session of the summer involved substantial back-and-forth with Columbia’s bargaining team over our Non-Discrimination and Harassment proposal, which aims to establish stronger protections and recourse for workers who experience sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination. We also
Session #9 – Non-Discrimination and Harassment and Other Proposals
Last Monday, May 13, we met with Columbia’s bargaining team in Lerner Hall to present a significant contract article — Non-Discrimination and Harassment — and several counter-proposals — Severability, Union-Management Committee, Employment Files, Job Posting, Appointment Notification and Job Description,
Bargaining Session #8: Your role in bargaining makes a difference
Since our call to hear about your experiences as academic workers we continue to receive tremendously helpful emails from you all about how Columbia consistently fails to provide adequate working conditions. Your stories help us make contract proposals that directly
Bargaining Session #7: May Day!
Bargaining finally took place on Morningside campus—and on International Workers’ Day! Thank you to all those who have joined us in our ongoing efforts to negotiate a fair and strong first contract. Highlights of the session included a compelling set
Bargaining Session #6: Columbia continues to deny the reality of our working conditions
Bargaining continues! During our 5-hour long session this Thursday, the key issues we discussed were workload and intellectual property. In what was our fifth bargaining session, the GWC-UAW Bargaining Committee continued the push for a strong and fair contract only