{"id":3174,"date":"2019-03-16T13:16:57","date_gmt":"2019-03-16T13:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/columbiagradunion.org\/?p=3174"},"modified":"2019-03-16T13:16:57","modified_gmt":"2019-03-16T13:16:57","slug":"blog-working-conditions-are-learning-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/columbiagradunion.org\/2019\/03\/16\/blog-working-conditions-are-learning-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog: Working Conditions are Learning Conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Graduate Workers of Columbia,<\/span><\/p>\n

Our bargaining session yesterday coincided with a historic occasion for GWC: exactly 17 years ago, Columbia RAs and TAs voted to unionize in a 2002 NLRB election — but due to Columbia\u2019s collaboration with the George Bush majority on the labor board that led to the <\/span>Brown decision<\/span><\/i>, the ballots were never counted. We felt the weight of that history as we proudly passed our proposals across the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

We knew then what we know now: in order to engage and succeed in our academic pursuits, we rely on fair and predictable pay, benefits, and workplace protections. Our work sustains and supports us, and the workplace rights we negotiate in our first contract will enhance our ability to engage in quality research and teaching. A fair and strong contract must recognize and address our variegated needs as student assistants, juggling different roles and responsibilities at once.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the main objective of our bargaining agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

In all, we presented our first batch of 14 proposals that ranged topics from Appointment Notification and Job Description to Training and Travel. You can read short summaries of the proposals below. These proposals form the base of our contract, and we\u2019ll continue to build upon them in our campaign for a strong contract that preserves what we love about our work and improves the problematic parts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Columbia opened its portion of the session with proposals that emphasized its <\/span>academic prerogatives, attempting to frame strict limits around what we could bargain over. None of this was surprising, but they went to great length to explain, and attempt to codify in initial proposals, their right to determine the boundaries between our work and our academics.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We also continued bargaining over locations for the next bargaining sessions. The following dates have been confirmed so far: <\/span><\/p>\n