Bargaining Session 3

On Monday, November 24, the University and the Student Workers of Columbia union (SWC) met in-person at Interchurch Center to discuss a successor contract for the union. SWC’s bargaining committee was accompanied by approximately 50 observers.

During the session, the University put forward again the Benefits and Child Care articles that it initially proposed in May; a counterproposal to the Grievance and Arbitration article the union advanced at the last bargaining session, which was itself a response to an article the University proposed in April; and a workable offer to continue to make available the health support funds that had been negotiated in SWC’s prior contract despite that contract’s expiration. SWC put forward its own counterproposals on Benefits and Parental Benefits, as well as a proposed memorandum of understanding on the health support funds. 

During the session SWC spent more time discussing employment-related issues compared to the last bargaining session. However, the union’s demands – particularly on health insurance and child care subsidies – are far out of line with benefits available to other Columbia employees, or to student employees at other universities, and the parties remain far apart on these topics.

With respect to the support funds, the University and SWC negotiated these funds as part of the now-lapsed initial contract to help pay for student employees’ and their dependents’ unreimbursed medical, dental, and vision expenses. The support funds remain an important subject upon which the University has been eager to engage and something the University expects to be part of a successor agreement. Indeed, the University proposed to renew and increase these funds last May, in the early months of its attempts to open productive bargaining. The union formally responded to the May proposal for the first time during the session, after raising the issue at the last session. As an interim measure, while bargaining goes forward and during the contract’s lapse, the University has also offered to continue providing these funds outside the contract as a student benefit. SWC again refused to consider that offer. The University will review the union’s proposal and provide a response.

SWC also continued to press demands on subjects outside the scope of collective bargaining and that would infringe on the University’s core management of institutional operations. The University’s bargaining committee reiterated that it is not in a position to address these issues in a labor contract for only a portion of our University community.

The parties met for a full bargaining session and agreed to meet again. The parties are discussing dates in December and January for future bargaining sessions and checking on availability at Interchurch for those meetings. 

The University remains committed to negotiating a fair, competitive, and sustainable agreement with SWC that benefits the student employees it represents as well as the broader Columbia community.