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May 14, 2004

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Columbia Adjuncts Strike as Admin Sticks to Hard Line

Andrew Kennis

Long ago, graduate students could reasonably expect to have a good job with decent pay and summers off to work on their research. That day is long gone, however, and the exploitation of graduate students has sharply increased as universities have come to depend upon them as a source of flexible labor. Unsurprisingly then, for years now graduate students all across the country have waged labor struggles for union recognition and contracts.

The wave of graduate student unionization has reached even the ivy towers of the most elite private schools, including Yale, U Penn and New York University, which has been the sole successful campaign at a private university so far. At Columbia University, the wave culminated in a strike launched on April 20.

The Graduate Students Employees Union (affiliated with Local 2110 of the United Auto Workers) has raised eyebrows with its decision to strike, but this move is best seen as part of an ongoing struggle. Columbia’s graduate students voted for union representation two years ago, with about 75 percent voting in favor out of some 2000 votes. However, the Columbia administration appealed the vote to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the process is moving quite slowly. Rather than wait out the appeals process—which the university is not rushing at all—the GSEU started up a campaign to use union cards to sign up students directly into the union. At this point, the members held a vote on whether to strike, in which 80 percent voted in favor.

Now officially on strike, graduate students set up a feisty picket line, complete with a giant inflatable rat symbolizing the lowliness of the administration’s refusal to recognize the union. The picket line is staffed by striking students, but is only active 25 hours a week. “We want to avoid burnout,” explained Felicity Palmer, an Australian student in the English graduate department who is on the organizing committee and has been involved in Columbia organizing efforts for three years.

The picket line, however, is only one of many activities that the union is taking on. Over a thousand people marched in support of the strike on April 28, attracting a diverse crowd including support staff, graduate and undergraduate students and service and maintenance workers in addition to those on strike. The following day, Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir performed for a crowd of supporters. More than 100 faculty members have signed a letter addressed to Columbia’s President, Lee Bollinger, supporting the strike. Finally, on May 6 a one-day sympathy strike was staged by the Columbia clerical workers who, like the GSEU, are incorporated in the United Auto Workers Local 2110. The clerical workers were docked a day’s pay.

Nathan Larsen, a strike organizer from the Religion department explained that community support has lent strength to the strike. “It’s really been amazing just how much attention and support we have received.” An example of this support was displayed on April 21, as undergraduate students staged a massive one-day walkout.
Indeed, the strike has caught the attention of influential publications like The New Yorker (which featured a story on the walkout) and also in a number of radio news programs on the NPR and Pacifica networks. Furthermore, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and city council members such as Jose Serrano spoke at the biggest rally that has occurred during the strike (April 28), lending their support to the cause. Serrano was one of the co-authors of a letter to President Bollinger asking him to resolve the strike in a fair and just manner.

Andrew Kennis is a student in the PhD program in Politics.