As a year of labor militancy comes to a close, the largest active strike in the United States is taking place in New York City, not on the factory floor, but outside the university. Nearly 3,000 graduate workers at Columbia University have been on the picket lines since early November, in a heated battle for increased wages and improved benefits that has seen the administration threaten to fire and replace striking workers. It’s the second time this year that Columbia grad workers have walked out.
The strike is the latest development in a multi-year struggle for a first contract that dates back to 2016, when graduate students secured a favorable ruling from the National Labor Relations Board that affirmed them as employees with the right to unionize. In particular, Columbia student workers are asking for a wage floor of $45,000 annually for first-year doctoral students and a minimum wage of $26 for hourly workers, as well as third-party arbitration for harassment complaints and improved medical and dental benefits. Right now, grad student workers have annual wages as low as $29,000 for student workers at the School of Social Work.
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