Important Update on SWC Negotiations

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

As you know from prior updates, negotiations with the Student Workers of Columbia union (SWC) have not progressed since our first (and only) bargaining session in March. Since that time, the University has taken many concrete steps in an effort to bring SWC to the bargaining table, including making a competitive economic offer; offering to implement that offer in a one-year extension of the now-expired contract—thus allowing time for negotiations and preventing potential academic disruption in the fall; offering to engage in mediation; offering to bargain at a neutral location off campus; and offering to allow the union’s president, an expelled student, to attend negotiations as an observer. Despite these efforts, SWC has refused to return to the table for negotiations.

The union continues to condition bargaining on the University’s agreement to conduct negotiations over Zoom, rather than in person. As we have explained in prior updates, in-person bargaining through the parties’ bargaining committees allows the parties to maintain constructive focus; promotes the development of trusting relationships; protects against doxing, misleading quotation, and mischaracterization of negotiations on social media and in other forums; and encourages the candid and robust discussions most likely to produce an agreement in an efficient manner. The University’s position is consistent with the National Labor Relations Board’s statements that good-faith bargaining is accomplished through in-person bargaining, and parties cannot insist on virtual bargaining.

Rather than pursuing bargaining and prioritizing the employment-related interests of everyone the union is charged with representing, SWC has focused primarily on issues unrelated to the terms and conditions of employment. SWC also called on its members to participate in campus actions that have severely disrupted the University’s academic operations for other students and staff and in this way violated the union’s contract that was then in effect.

SWC’s tactics appear to be aimed at delay—and they have succeeded in stalling any progress. By pushing past the initial contract’s expiration on June 30, the union released itself from certain contractual constraints, including a prohibition on striking. In fact, the union has been openly discussing a strike this fall, before returning to the bargaining table. The union’s rejection of the University’s proposal to extend the prior contract for one year, with an immediate increase in compensation and introduction of a mediator to help facilitate negotiations, is hard to interpret except as a preference for strike action over bargaining. The union’s counterproposal rejected mediation efforts and included an extension only until September 30, 2025, with even more significant unbargained-for pay increases, leaving courses vulnerable to a potential strike in the middle of the term.

To date, SWC has shown little interest in bargaining over the terms and conditions of employment for the student employees it represents—or in bargaining at all. Taken together, all of these factors lead us to conclude that SWC will not engage with the University to bargain in good faith. As a result, we are now taking the difficult step of filing an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. You can read the full Unfair Labor Practice Charge. The University’s legal claims have several grounds, many of which have been described in prior updates including on July 28, July 2, and June 17, and in updates to faculty on June 2 and April 28.

The University did not take this step lightly, and our goal remains to negotiate a fair, competitive, and sustainable agreement with our student employees that will benefit them and the entire Columbia community. As has been true from the start, the University is ready and willing to engage in good-faith negotiations and earnestly hopes SWC will come to the table in the spirit of collegiality and seriousness that this moment demands and all student employees expect.

We still can reach a labor contract that supports the needs of our student employees and the whole Columbia community, and we hope that happens soon. But we cannot do it without a partner.

We will continue to keep you informed, including through the additional updates and information posted under the Current Negotiations tab on the Student Benefits website. Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support for our community as we work through this challenging situation together.

Sincerely,

Amy Hungerford
Dean and Executive Vice President, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Cas Holloway
Special Advisor to Acting President Claire Shipman