3/28/25 Bargaining Update
Hi Bargaining Blog Enjoyers!!
Yesterday (3/28), roughly 250 SWC members observed the first bargaining session in-person at Studebaker Hall and over Zoom. Columbia provided us with a room they claimed had a 100-person capacity but only offered us about fifty chairs, leaving many of our members to sit on the floor and join from Zoom from another room in the building. The CU negotiators didn’t even have enough space to sit at their table. We packed the room, and stood together to show CU admin that we aren’t afraid to show up and show out for our demands, and flex our power which comes from our unity.
We made it clear to Columbia that open, hybrid bargaining is consistent with the precedent for bargaining established between our two parties, and that if they wanted to change the status quo, they would need to present us with a proposal to discuss. In the meantime, we informed them that we had no intention of changing precedent by allowing bargaining to proceed without Zoom observation. Besides a disrespect for precedent, this is an issue of workplace safety for international workers for whom campus and its surrounding environment have become materially unsafe and terrorizing due to the presence of ICE/DHS. Our position is simple: The University has neither the right nor the power to unilaterally change the terms of bargaining and put our members in danger by doing so.
We build our organizing power when all our members witness bargaining, so that we can collectively hold CU accountable. When our members are able to see the things said by both sides during bargaining, it gives them the full picture and enables us to organize much more effectively and democratically. Packing the room shows Columbia that our members are fired up and ready to throw our full force behind our demands. We will not stand by as CU colludes with the federal government, disenrolls students, hands Congress student records, fires our President, and bends over backward while the US government robs our scientists blind and kidnaps students and workers.
Management refused to allow our members to observe bargaining on Zoom, despite the fact that Zoom bargaining has been the norm for over five years, and our communications with CU admin have consistently indicated that members will join virtually. Afraid to bargain in front of our Zoom observers, one CU negotiator grabbed a union member’s computer, and left the room with it. Columbia administrators repeatedly turned off the computers with our Zoom set up. In response, rank-in-file members asserted their right to hybrid bargaining by connecting to Zoom on their own computers to ensure their fellow workers could still listen remotely.
At 3:25pm, an hour and a half into the session, we watched Columbia’s bargaining committee get up and leave the room to deliberate for over an hour rather than begin bargaining for our contract. This is a delay and evasion tactic, similar to their decision to cancel bargaining the day after they fired our President.
After Columbia walked out of the room, we stayed to caucus and awaited their return. An hour after they left, the CU negotiators informed us they did not want to return to the table today, and they again attempted to force us to give up Zoom bargaining. Instead of continuing negotiations that day, a Columbia administrator handed Bargaining Committee members a piece of paper that threatened to take us to court to overturn our shared precedent. They informed us they would not be coming back to the table unless we agreed to their terms. Our position is that the University is doing what they accuse us of: attempting to condition bargaining on a permissive subject. We understand the University’s actions to be illegal. Their goal is to use the threat of legal action to scare us into submission and force us to concede on a topic that should not even be under discussion in the first place.
We will continue to fight for hybrid bargaining. In 2021, Zoom was a necessity for workplace safety and accessibility. The same is true today. Not only has the pandemic not abated, international students are afraid to leave their homes because Columbia has created the conditions for the federal government to abduct us. Other SWC members need flexibility to attend bargaining because they have lab obligations, childcare duties, or live in other cities because NYC rent is too damn high for our substandard wages. A Zoom option would also allow our colleague Ranjani Srinivasan – a union member who had to flee the country because Columbia cruelly and needlessly disenrolled her after DHS revoked her visa – to observe bargaining. Ranjani deserves a seat at the table to negotiate her contract along with the student workers who can attend in-person.
We will always ensure that all members of our unit have the information necessary to allow us to make informed decisions together. The bargaining committee and executive board are in the process of consulting a lawyer to confirm our analysis, and we will communicate what we learn to the membership as soon as we can so that we can decide collectively how to move forward. In the meantime, we can’t let Columbia wriggle out of a fair fight. On Wednesday, April 2 (time TBD), we will hold a picket to show Columbia that they can’t browbeat their workers into accepting a raw deal. RSVP here.