Columbia University threatens graduate workers with replacement if they continue strike

Around 3,000 graduate workers at Columbia University in New York City, who have been on strike since 3 November, recently received an email from the university human resources department threatening the workers with replacement if they continue striking.

The strike is currently the largest active strike in the US.

The email, sent on 2 December by Columbia University human resources vice-president Dave Driscoll, informed workers their positions would be replaced if they continue striking past 10 December.

Jacobs described the unfair labor practice charges filed by the union against the university with the National Labor Relations Board. They include the university enacting a wage freeze and changing wage disbursement schedules earlier this year without negotiating with the union after its members rejected a tentative agreement after a strike in the 2021 spring semester.

Graduate workers have been on strike over improved compensation to cover the high cost of living in New York City, a third-party arbitration process for harassment and discrimination complaints and improved health care plans for student workers, including dental care and vision coverage.

Over the past several years, graduate student workers at Columbia University have fought for a first union contract with the university, after securing a ruling by the NLRB in 2016 that affirmed graduate students are employees with the right to unionize.

Workers are pushing for a wage floor of $45,000 annually for first year doctoral students on one-year appointments and a minimum hourly wage of $26 for hourly workers. Current wages vary by department from as low as $29,000 annually for student workers at the School of Social Work to $41,500 for engineering student workers. Current hourly minimum wage at the school is $15 an hour.

Tamara Hache, a graduate student worker in the Latin American and Iberian Cultures Department and an international student, expressed concerns over the threat of replacement and its impact on the university as a whole, including international students who cannot work outside the university.

In response to the threat of replacement, the union is rallying support from undergraduate students, parents, alumni, faculty and the public, and have held protests over the threat of replacing workers on strike.