Columbia University graduate teaching and research assistants have begun an indefinite strike in demand of the right to unionize. Adjunct professors at New York University are also planning to strike beginning tomorrow.
The Columbia strike was approved last Thursday by an 80 percent majority vote by members of Graduate Student Employees United, the Columbia group that is represented by the United Automobile Workers.
Members of GSEU/UAW joined the picket line at the Columbia gates yesterday morning.
Members of GSEU/UAW say that the strike will go on indefinitely until the Columbia administration decides to drop its pending legal appeal with the National Labor Relations Board arguing that TAs and research assistants are students and therefore hold no right to unionize.
A similar situation currently exists on Penn's campus, where administrators and Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania are deadlocked over a pending NLRB appeal. Graduate students on campus voted on whether to unionize in February of 2003, but the votes have been impounded because of the appeal.
The legal suit at Columbia has caused the votes from a unionization election held two years ago to remain uncounted.
GSEU/UAW members claim that they won the election and demand that the University recognize their right to form a union.
"We've gone through an election, we've held rallies and petitions," organizer for GSEU/UAW David Carpio said.
"In all cases, the university's administration has refused to simply honor the word of the majority, and we feel that due to that obstinance, we have to take a more drastic step to pressure the administration into recognizing our union and to bargain with us," Carpio said.
With undergraduate courses drawing to a close and final exams and papers left to be graded, Columbia officials said that they are making contingency plans to deal with the strike.
Columbia Provost Alan Brinkley has released basic guidelines to respective departments on how to handle the strike in a way that will have as little impact on students as possible.
Columbia spokeswoman Susan Brown said that students will still receive grades and seniors will be able to graduate.
While no teachers have reported canceling their classes, some professors have moved their classes off campus to show their support of the strike.
The Columbia undergraduate group Students for Environmental and Economic Justice is planning a walk-out tomorrow to show support for GSEU/UAW members.
"It seems like the university is just hurting itself," Columbia sophomore and SEEJ member Simeon Kimmel said. "They knew that the strike was coming, and they refused to negotiate, and now it is indefinite. But hopefully, it will settle soon."
Kimmel said that he, along with other members of SEEJ, expect large numbers of students to walk out in protest of the strike tomorrow.
New York University will also be the site of an academic labor strike tomorrow.
NYU adjunct professors won the right to bargain collectively over two years ago, but the UAW-affiliated group and NYU officials have yet to agree on an initial contract.
UAW said that over 91 percent of union members voted in favor of a strike to be held if no contract can be agreed upon before tomorrow.
Close to 1,200 adjunct professors are currently teaching this semester at NYU.
NYU spokesman John Beckman said that "the university continues to believe in the negotiating process and the work of the mediator, and hopes that through it, we shall achieve a contract that honors our part-time faculty and benefits not only them, but the entire NYU community."
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