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Hardship Fund for Columbia Student Workers

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Update: We Have a Tentative Agreement!

Read more about the tentative agreement here.

SWC members are still thousands of dollars in debt from the strike and need immediate support to pay late fees, rent, and bills. We're still asking for donations here.

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Please donate to support Columbia Student Workers on strike!

After two years of bargaining, the University still refuses to agree to a fair contract for student workers. We're starting this hardship fund to support Columbia academic workers in this struggle, and welcome all donations from students or supporters who are able to give in these difficult times.

Columbia has committed several unfair labor practices, including implementing a wage freeze - discontinuing their 3% annual raises in explicit retaliation for rejecting the Tentative Agreement - and unilaterally modifying stipend disbursement schedules. Columbia forced their student-workers into additional financial insecurity to war off the strike. Graduate student workers at Columbia are paid $5,500 to $18,000 below an annual living wage in NYC. Yet Columbia raised enough money in the past 5 Giving Days alone, a 5-day work week, to fund the entire cost of our union's proposal to provide workers with a living wage and adequate healthcare for the next three years.

Why donate? Put simply - Columbia student workers need your help to make it through a strike. The University docked many workers' wages when we went on strike last spring. Other workers got their stipends docked too. We learned recently that the University unilaterally changed the stipend pay schedule for hundreds of workers, which will result in an $8k shortfall at the beginning of the fall semester - a clear attempt by the University to break a strike before it began. 

It is in the University’s power to end the strike by agreeing to essential contract provisions:

    -   Compensation that provides a living wage to all;  
    -   Healthcare improvements that create a sustainable work environment for all, not just those with a safety net for extraneous healthcare costs;
    -   Real recourse for cases of harassment and discrimination, including power-based harassment, through the grievance procedure and neutral, third-party arbitration;
    -   Full recognition of the NLRB-certified bargaining unit, including undergrads and hourlies;
    -   NYPD off campus: no law enforcement in campus buildings without a signed warrant and no NYPD contracts for event security.
    -   Childcare subsidies and long-term parental leave to ensure our university is accessible to all.

In the meantime, we need to build a fund strong enough to support student workers in their struggle for a fair contract from one of the most ruthless employers in higher ed, Columbia University.

Donations 

  • Janae Choquette Skander Mzali
    • $250 
    • 2 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $200 
    • 2 yrs
  • Lyudmila Kovalchuke
    • $100 
    • 2 yrs
  • Thomas B Beard
    • $20 
    • 2 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $30 
    • 2 yrs

Organizer and beneficiary

Columbia Workers Solidarity
Organizer
New York, NY
Eric Spishak-Thomas
Beneficiary

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