Faced With University's 'Final Offer,' SWC-UAW Continues Strike

Upper West Side NY

02 January, 2022

11:02 AM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY TALIA TRASKOS-HART DECEMBER 28, 2021 Eight weeks into what is now the largest strike in the nation, the Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers and the University have each presented new proposals. Although the University has called its latest proposal its "final offer," the union continues to strike, calling primarily for workplace protections for casual and hourly workers. The SWC-UAW's strike thus far has involved dozens of hours in bargaining and mediation sessions, major disruptions to classes and events, undergraduate learning loss and last-minute credit remediation, as well as widespread faculty and undergraduate support as striking workers called for higher levels of compensation and more thorough workplace protections for all student employees. This strike is the union's second this calendar year after 53 percent of the unit voted to reject a tentative agreement reached by the union's bargaining committee and the University last spring. Following a new proposal made by the SWC-UAW on Dec. 22, the University presented what it maintains is its "best and final offer" a day later. In a letter to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal last Friday, Provost Mary Boyce wrote that the University's offer "is one of the most generous available at any U.S. university." However, while Columbia's proposal includes increases in compensation and broader protections for student-workers experiencing discrimination and harassment, it does not include some of the SWC-UAW's most prominent demands, most relevantly the recognition of all casual and hourly employees as part of the bargaining unit. One particularly major movement in the University's most recent proposal is the expansion of the right to neutral, third-party arbitration in cases of discrimination, harassment, and Title IX. The University had previously refused to offer arbitration in cases of Title IX, claiming that such an option could be potentially illegal. This change in position resulted in part from immense pressure from the SWC-UAW on this issue, including claims that an internal process may be procedurally biased. [Read more: Columbia still refuses to give the GWC-UAW neutral, third-party arbitration. Is this indicative of a deeper institutional issue?] Under the University's new proposal, student-workers may now enter either mediation or arbitration in cases involving Title IX after completing the University's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative appeals process. This represents an expansion of the right to arbitration offered at universities like Harvard, where cases of Title IX are not arbitrable, and this offer mirrors the right to arbitration previously won by members of the University's post-doctoral union in their first contract. Higher levels of compensation for student-workers have also been proposed. Ph.D. students on 12 and nine-month appointments will be offered retroactive raises of 7 and 11 percent, respectively, while the minimum wage for hourly workers is proposed to increase 40 percent, from $15 to $21, beginning in January 2022. Isabella Livorni, a SWC-UAW member and a sixth-year doctoral candidate in the Italian department and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, was glad to see these new proposals. "Columbia has made some moves on compensation that I personally didn't necessarily think that they would make, even if it doesn't reach the levels that we were hoping for," she said. However, the union and the University remain divided on whether expand these protections to casual and hourly workers. Under the University's current proposal, only casual employees who work over 15 hours per week or have provided over 250 hours of service are a recognized part of the unit. Workers who fall below this hourly limit will not be given access to workplace protections such as arbitration. These workers are often undergraduate teaching assistants and master's students paid by the hour in schools like the Mailman School of Public Health and the School of Social Work. The union and the University are at odds over whether hourly and casual workers are legally included in the unit under a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board in 2016. The University contends that the ruling does not necessitate the inclusion of casual workers given a stipulation in the decision. The NLRB proceedings state that members can vote only if they "hold an appointment or a training grant in a unit position in the fall semester 2016," "are course assistants, graders, or readers who are on the casual payroll and who worked 15 hours per week or more in a unit position in the fall semester 2016," or "have held a unit position for either the fall, spring, or summer during the prior academic year." The University holds that this definition of voting members ought to be used to determine inclusion in the bargaining unit. In a letter to the Columbia community on Dec. 26, Provost Boyce wrote that, when it comes to recognition, "Columbia's proposal is beyond what is required and is extraordinarily broad and by any fair standard." Boyce noted that all hourly workers will still receive increases in hourly wages and have access to the EOAA appeals process in cases of discrimination and harassment. The union maintains that the NLRB ruling includes casual workers through incorporating "All student employees who provide instructional services, including graduate and undergraduate Teaching Assistants … All Graduate Research Assistants … and All Departmental Research Assistants." This definition includes hourly teaching assistants and course assistants, many of whom would be excluded by the University's current hourly cap. Livorni explained that the inclusion of hourly workers in a contract is an issue of solidarity and fair working conditions. "If anything less than NLRB certification language was in the contract, these people would not get protections," she said. "When it comes to solidarity, … these people have struck for close to eight weeks with us." Over 1,300 members of the Columbia community have signed on to a letter emphasizing the importance of recognizing all workers in the bargaining unit. "Student workers who do not meet an hourly minimum of 15 hours per week or 250 hours total will not receive workplace protections, despite them being no less vulnerable to harassment and discrimination at the workplace than anyone else. All student workers require and deserve the same access to workplace protections," the letter reads. It concludes that "workplace protections are meaningless unless they apply to all workers regardless of hours or title." Staff writer Talia Traskos-Hart can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @taliakth. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.