Faculty Rally, Fundraising Spike, We’ve got the Big Mo’ (Momentum)

There is a silver lining to the threat of retaliation. Columbia’s actions got people to open up their wallets and over the past 48 hours we raised more than $20,000 for the hardship fund! Keep tweeting and sharing the hardship fund! As a reminder, round 3 remains open through 11:59pm on December 10th. Apply for round 3 of the hardship fund here.

In yesterday’s mediation session, we came to the table prepared to hear a counter proposal on Non-Discrimination and Harassment (NDH) and bring our own counter proposal on child care.

The session opened with the university presenting some updates to their arbitration article, which slightly expands upon their previous offer; essentially a clone of Harvard’s contract. The university’s arbitration proposal continues to inch closer to an arbitration system we can consider. We responded with a counter proposal lengthening the period of time for EOAA to conclude before transitioning to the arbitration system from 30 to 60 days. Unfortunately, we remain at an ideological difference regarding grievance and arbitration for Title IX cases.

Next, we presented an updated child care proposal that adopts the university’s phase-in structure from Friday’s session to be $5k, $5.5k, and $6k across three years. However, the conversation revealed points of contention within the article that were not previously addressed. Namely, stop the clock policies. The university now estimates stop the clock to cost upwards of $3-$5 million, adding a massive price tag to an article that we thought we were near closing. In reality, we estimate the policy to cost closer to $1.5-$2 million and is a key piece to supporting some of the most precarious workers in our unit, parents. It is disappointing to see the university continue to quibble over pennies instead of dealing with substantive issues at the heart of our demands.

The session ended with a reminder that unless the university resolves issues related to our stipend structure, annual wage increases, and now retaliation, we will not be dropping any of the open ULP disputes. We will focus today’s session on economic-related articles including fees and health benefits.

We hope you had a nice weekend, are rested, and ready to continue fighting. We’ll see you on the picket line, at our faculty rally at 12:30pm, and in our afternoon mediation session at 3:00pm. You can join mediation here. Importantly, we’ll have an extended caucus this afternoon at 2:30pm where all rank-and-file members and working groups will come together to draft our latest comprehensive package. Join caucus here. Keep pushing, we’re almost there.

In solidarity,

Your bargaining committee and CommComm