Our Statement on Bargaining, March 5th, 2026

On March 5, 2026, the Arts and Sciences Graduate Council voted to continue in our support for the members and leadership of the Student Workers of Columbia (UAW 2710). SWC, at the time of our writing, has been working on behalf of graduate students for over 6 years. After the contract maintaining the status of graduate student workers was allowed to lapse in June, the ASGC has worked alongside SWC to ensure that all MA and PhD student workers are represented, both as academics and as employees, to the administration of our University. 

However, as student workers are at risk of reaching a full year without the protections of an active contract and bargaining does not seem to be progressing at an adequate rate, it has come to our attention that the SWC has called for a Strike Authorization Vote, or SAV. ASGC was informed that this vote, while not necessarily an indication of an impending strike, is a powerful expression of discontent with the state of the bargaining process as well as a tried-and-true demonstration of union solidarity. In recent conversations with SWC members, including members of the bargaining committee, ASGC has been made aware that student workers at the bargaining table felt they had been met with rudeness, disrespect, and dismissal in their attempts to secure common-sense protections for international student workers, compensation commensurate with the level of other Ivy League graduate students, and safe and equitable housing, among other demands which have significant precedent among comparable universities including Harvard, Yale, and Penn. Particularly important are the proposed protections for international student workers which, in light of the abduction from Columbia Residential property last week by federal agents, are absolutely imperative to the safety of our peers, as well as Columbia’s continued status as a university of choice for the best global minds.

In our March 5th, 2026 plenary session, ASGC conversed with union representatives, alongside our general assembly of student leaders from across the University (including PhD and MA representatives from over 30 departments and members of the University Senate) regarding ASGC’s best path forward to aid in securing the graduate student protections for which both we and the SWC are fighting. In that session, after an in-depth conversation on the sentiments and concerns of students within our individual departments, ASGC voted to update our extant statement on the Unionization to better reflect the feelings of our constituents.

The student representatives of ASGC overwhelmingly voted “Yes” to the following statements:

1. ASGC supports the SWC in its SAV and the ongoing contract campaign.

2. ASGC recommends eligible GSAS students sign an SWC membership card.

3. ASGC encourages eligible GSAS students to vote in the SAV.

4. ASGC endorses voting ‘Yes’ on the SAV.

We encourage our administration to return to bargaining promptly, in good faith, and with a fresh appetite for accepting the union’s terms, which were democratically chosen as those which are most important to improving the day-to-day lives of graduate students. Until such a time as the capacity to do so has been convincingly demonstrated to the students we represent, the Arts and Sciences Graduate Council amplifies the union’s directive to vote “Yes” on the Strike Authorization Vote, which closes on March 8th, 2026. 

Card-signers should check their email for personalized voting links through the union’s preferred election-monitoring service; if you have questions about your Union eligibility, you can visit their website for more information, as well as news and updates on the progress of the contract campaign.