On Monday, April 13, the University and the Student Workers of Columbia union (SWC) met for an eleventh bargaining session, in person at the Interchurch Center, to continue negotiating the terms of the union’s successor contract.
Early in the session, the University again proposed engaging an independent mediator to facilitate negotiations, given the fact that the parties have made virtually no progress on most significant elements of a labor contract more than a year into negotiations and more than nine months after the prior contract expired. Following lengthy discussion, the union declined to agree to the University’s offer of mediation at the meeting, although said it would get back to the University.
Following further discussion of SWC’s proposal on Artificial Intelligence, the University put forward counterproposals on Non-Discrimination, International Student Employees, and Transitional Funding (consistent with the side letter to the prior contract). The University also provided a verbal response to the union’s proposal on Surveillance and Monitoring, which infringes the University’s right to manage the operations of the institution.
The parties were able to reach a Tentative Agreement on Grievance and Arbitration, and SWC’s bargaining team tentatively agreed to language on Employment Files and Training following the University’s counterproposals on those articles on April 8 and March 9, respectively. Tentative Agreements on those two latter topics are subject to a vote of the union’s membership. Nevertheless, the University and SWC remain far apart on all other major issues.
The parties have agreed to meet again on April 28 and May 4 and 12, in person at Interchurch.
The University remains committed to reaching a fair, competitive, and sustainable agreement with SWC that benefits all of our student employees and the entire Columbia community.
