Posts tagged Columbia University
Opinion: Big Labor, DEI and the GOP
July 6, 2026 // These Republicans are promoting much more than the FLCA’s mandated arbitration after 120 days of collective bargaining. The bill gives the whip hand to unions in negotiating labor contracts, and along with that comes the left-wing cultural agenda that unions like the Teamsters and the SEIU have adopted. Take DEI—diversity, equity and inclusion—which unions have made part of their social-justice mission and collective-bargaining agreements. The General Teamsters Local Union No. 174 made DEI a feature of its negotiation with the Port of Seattle. The Writers Guild of America, East, included DEI targets for the hiring process and a formal diversity committee in its bargaining with Vox Media.
Dream Team of Three Congressional Primary Winners Joins UAW Union Rally for Columbia University Researchers
July 5, 2026 // Three recently elected Democratic nominees for Congress — Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez and Brad Lander — spoke at a Tuesday rally for CPW-UAW Local 4100, the union that represents 1,600 postdoctoral workers at Columbia University. The lunchtime rally was held in a pedestrian plaza outside the university’s massive medical center in Washington Heights. Drawing over 200 participants, it took place on the day CPW-UAW’s current contract was set to expire and right before a bargaining session between the union and Columbia. As of Wednesday afternoon, the university and the union have yet to settle on a new contract.
USC faculty groups vote to unionize and university vows to challenge it
June 7, 2026 // Not all eligible USC faculty have been supportive. The effort drew opposition from full-time non-tenure faculty at the Gould School of Law, who said in spring that they were “unanimously opposed to the effort to include us.” The group cited American Bar Assn. accreditation standards that it said already provided workers with protections “reasonably similar to tenure” and encouraged law faculty to remain out of university unions. Some professors in pharmacy, engineering and education schools also publicly opposed unionizing.
A Columbia Student Strike May Foreshadow the End of Unions
March 28, 2026 // Columbia graduate students this month voted to authorize a strike, their second in five years. Their list of demands naturally include things related to pay and working conditions. They are seeking $76,000 a year in pay, about twice the stipend I got as a graduate student (adjusting for inflation) and a more than 50% increase from the current level.
Columbia student worker union authorizes strike amid contract talks, Israel boycott demands
March 17, 2026 // Student Workers of Columbia, a union representing roughly 3,500 graduate and undergraduate student workers at Columbia University, has “overwhelmingly” authorized a strike as part of ongoing contract negotiations with the university, including demands for an institutional boycott of Israel.
SWC-UAW opens strike authorization vote to ‘ramp up’ pressure during bargaining over a new contract with Columbia
February 26, 2026 // Under the last contract, doctoral candidate workers were guaranteed a $43,137 salary. The union has asked for a $76,372 minimum salary in the ongoing negotiations. A student worker strike may disrupt classes, grading, and research operations. The last SWC strike in 2021 disrupted Core Curriculum classes, with instructors canceling midterm exams and removing material from the curriculum. However, the University cut Core class teaching obligations for graduate student workers last year amid negotiations over the new contract. A University official told Spectator that the change gives graduate students more time to complete research and academic requirements.
Cornell Ph.D. Student’s Appeal to NLRB’s Top Prosecutor Urges Agency to End Union Control Over Graduate Students
February 23, 2026 // Russell Burgett, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University, is asking newly-seated National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Crystal Carey to issue a complaint and ask the NLRB to free graduate students across the country from being forced to fund and associate with union bosses.
Cornell Ph.D. Student’s Appeal to NLRB’s Top Prosecutor Urges Agency to End Union Control Over Graduate Students
February 18, 2026 // Case attacks Obama-era federal ruling that exposed graduate students to union boss power and forced dues
Beyond the assembly line: Auto workers’ labor union emerges as key player in anti-Israel activism
January 26, 2026 // A number of labor unions have seen a rise of antisemitism and anti-Israel activity since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks, despite many being historically supportive of Israel, dating back nearly a century, when many American unions donated money to the Histadrut, Israel’s national labor union. Multiple groups have now taken legal action against UAW branches in response to certain campaigns, which some legal experts allege were discriminatory against Israelis and Jews.
‘Cronyism is alive and well’: With hundreds of thousands of dollars misused in their union, University workers allege mismanagement and retaliation
December 10, 2025 // Both Hannigan and Ventura said that the local’s general body has not been informed of the Department of Labor investigation—even after Molina received the subpoena. “There’s no transparency there,” Ventura said. “A lot of members don’t know what actually is going on in the union.” McAllister, a union member, said Molina “failed the membership” by not notifying them of the federal investigation. “He knew about what had transpired and he made no effort to speak about it at the general membership meeting,” McAllister said. “He failed us as a leader—I use the word lightly.”