{"id":3170,"date":"2019-03-08T05:32:32","date_gmt":"2019-03-08T05:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/columbiagradunion.org\/?p=3170"},"modified":"2019-03-08T05:32:32","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T05:32:32","slug":"blog-the-bargaining-session-that-wasnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/columbiagradunion.org\/2019\/03\/08\/blog-the-bargaining-session-that-wasnt\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog: The Bargaining Session That Wasn\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, at the <\/span>inaugural bargaining session<\/span><\/a>, we presented the Columbia administration with our bargaining goals, explaining how we can advance Columbia University\u2019s academic mission by creating the conditions under which graduate workers at this university can flourish.<\/span><\/p>\n

This past Wednesday, we sat down at the table, ready \u2013 as Proskauer lawyer Bernie Plum put it on February 25 \u2013 to roll up our sleeves and get down to the details. We had brought with us nearly a dozen, carefully prepared contract proposals to hand to our university administration counterparts\u2026 Only, there was no one there to receive them. The administration had declined to meet — informing us, less than 48 hours before the planned session, of \u201cscheduling conflicts.\u201d This after clearly stating, over the bargaining table on February 25, that their team was available to bargain at that time; and after we went to the effort of finding and booking an appropriate bargaining space (no small feat, given how many of our room reservation requests were denied). Rather than rolling up our sleeves and making progress towards a fair contract, we found ourselves across the table from a row of empty chairs. <\/span><\/p>\n

While it is still early in the bargaining process \u2013 a process that GWC remains fully committed to \u2013 the first signs of a potentially worrying pattern are already visible. In attempting to find a space on main campus to bargain, bargaining committee members and our allies have found our requests consistently denied, often without reason. Additionally, despite giving the administration team every assurance that we would find appropriate bargaining space on main campus (an assurance we have followed through on in good faith), Columbia has persisted in only offering to bargain at times when the bargaining space at Studebaker (an HR building that is located on none of Columbia University\u2019s campuses, and where the initial bargaining session took place) is available. Many of these proposed times fall out of the bargaining committee\u2019s availability: large blocks of time during four days of the week which we presented to the administration\u2019s team during the inaugural bargaining session. <\/span><\/p>\n

The initial evidence seems to suggest that Columbia either doesn\u2019t want to bargain on campus, or wants to slow down bargaining as much as it can.<\/span><\/p>\n

We reiterate that GWC remains fully and enthusiastically committed to the bargaining process \u2013 a process we acknowledge will take time and plenty of \u201csleeve rolling.\u201d Which is precisely why it is imperative that we bargain often and earnestly.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among the many proposals the bargaining committee had prepared to hand to the administration and their lawyers were<\/span><\/p>\n