Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Columbia Grad Students On Strike for a Living Wage

Graduate student workers at Columbia University walked off the job yesterday, demanding pay raises and improved health care. Read our report from the picket line.

Olivia Wood

March 16, 2021
Facebook Twitter Share
Grad students at Columbia on strike stand in front of the university listening to a speaker.
Photo: Olivia Wood

On one side of Columbia University’s College Walk, the marble steps and impressive dome of Lowe Library loom over the campus. On the other side, the names of Greek and Roman philosophers and authors are engraved above the ionic columns of another library. In between these imposing buildings, on the university’s South Field, more than a hundred graduate student workers gathered for the first day of their strike, with at least 150 more workers and allies joining via a digital picket line.

After two years of organizing for union recognition and two more years of bargaining, the grad student union, known as the GWC-UAW, is still fighting for its first contract. Their demands include raises for all employed graduate students, protection from discrimination and harassment, and a better healthcare plan.

Last week, Interim Provost and well-known labor historian Ira Katznelson attempted to avert a strike by sending an email to the graduate workers calling for “mutual realism.” Katnelson asked students to have sympathy for the financial plight of the university and urged them to be grateful for the stipends they already receive. However “painful” he may say he finds sending such letters, he is nonetheless trying to snuff out the strike and withhold money and benefits from the workers. He is siding with management because, regardless of his past academic research, he is management now. This is just another example of how certain organizational positions uphold exploitation regardless of the personal views of the person who holds that position. Katznelson may very well feel pain in his heart, but the nature of his position means he will choose to betray the workers anyway. As provost, his interests are definitionally opposed to the interests of the graduate student workers. His job is to manage the university as a whole, and universities thrive on the exploitation of grad students, adjuncts, and other underpaid, precarious workers. 

GWC-UAW organizers are pointing to an agreement reached last summer that gave significant raises to postdoctoral researchers, saying that current graduate students deserve better wages too. Katznelson argues that the situations are different, because Columbia postdocs were underpaid relative to other universities, whereas Columbia’s graduate students make more than their colleagues at most other schools. It is true that Columbia PhDs are well-paid for graduate students, even compared to student workers at other prestigious Manhattan universities. However, being well-paid compared to other members of an especially exploited tier of workers is not the same as being well-paid.

Graduate student workers at Columbia on 9-month contracts are paid $31,140 per year plus a $4,000 summer stipend, which totals only slightly more than the salary of a full-time minimum wage worker in NYC ($31,200). Workers on 12-month contracts make the same salary pro-rated for the additional months but do not receive summer stipends. For the New York City area, these wages are considered either very low income (9-month contracts) or low income (12-month contracts) for an individual with no children. Additionally, the majority of Columbia graduate students pay to live in campus-owned housing, so a large portion of their income goes directly back to the university. Average rents for graduate student housing at Columbia are far higher than what is considered affordable for students’ income level, even when living with roommates.

Any student with “full funding” ought to be able to live comfortably without having to take on additional jobs. This is simply not possible for the vast majority of graduate students, at Columbia or elsewhere. So, while the Columbia student workers may be better off than their colleagues at other schools, their demand for an 18.7 percent raise for 9-month employees and an approximate 10 percent raise for 12-month employees is, contrary to Katznelson’s assessment, both “reasonable and responsible.” In fact, even if their demands are met in full, the graduate workers will still be considered low-income for New York City, with a high portion of that income still going directly back to the university’s coffers in the form of rent.

Katznelson’s email attempted to undermine solidarity between the Columbia graduate workers and graduate workers at other schools by portraying the GWC-UAW’s demands as entitled and extravagant, but his ploy isn’t working. On Monday, the first day of the strike, graduate workers in Michigan had pizza delivered to the picket line, local graduate workers from NYU and CUNY showed up in support, and digital solidarity spanned across continents.

Despite Katznelson’s continued attempts to put a stop to the strike, the GWC-UAW is remaining firm, with two full weeks of pickets currently planned across Columbia’s various campuses. Left Voice will continue to cover the strike as it continues.

Donate to the GWC’s strike solidarity fund

Help Left Voice send comrades to Bessemer, Alabama to cover the union drive at Amazon

Facebook Twitter Share

Olivia Wood

Olivia is a writer and editor at Left Voice and lecturer in English at the City University of New York (CUNY).

Labor Movement

Three tables full of food, with signs hung above them. One says "The People's Pantry: FREE FOOD." Banners hung from the tables say "Free CUNY" and "Cop Free School Zone"

CUNY Administration Cracks Down on Student and Worker-Run Food Pantry

Students and workers opened "The People's Pantry" seven weeks ago as part of a broader anti-austerity campaign at CUNY, leading to several direct confrontations with the administration.

Olivia Wood

March 19, 2023

Temple’s Grad Worker Strike Ends with Important Victories 

The last report on the strike from a union teacher at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Jason Koslowski

March 17, 2023

Teachers and Education Workers Set to Strike! Tens of Thousands Rally in Los Angeles 

A three day strike was announced by two education unions at a rally attended by tens of thousands of members. The workers are calling for increased wages, reduced class size, and an end to harassment by their employers.

Julia Wallace

March 17, 2023
A sign drawn on a small whiteboard, in trans pride colors. Text: "CUNY Graduate Center and Professional Schools Workers for Trans Rights" Beneath the text is a chain of 9 smiling stick figures in different colors, all holding hands

CUNY Union Chapter Unanimously Passes Resolution in Support of Trans Rights

The Graduate Center chapter of PSC-CUNY, the faculty, staff, and graduate worker union of the City University of New York, passed a resolution pledging support to all workers fighting the anti-trans bills nationwide.

Olivia Wood

March 12, 2023

MOST RECENT

Customers clear shelves of water Sunday at Fresh Grocer in West Philadelphia.

A Chemical Plant Just Poisoned Philadelphia’s Water: A First-Hand Account of the Crisis

A company dumped thousands of gallons of poisonous chemicals into Philadelphia’s drinking water. This is an on-the-ground account by a Philadelphia worker and socialist.

Jason Koslowski

March 27, 2023
A group of protesters, in the front of whom are a line of protesters wearing red vests. In the front right corner, a white sign reds "vive la retraite," with a skeleton wearing a red hat in the middle of the sign on a black background with a text bubble on its left that reads, "oiv a bosse, c'est pas pour en crever!"

“French March”: The Right to Revolutionary Optimism

Evoking memories of '68, the students enter the fight against Macron. In our chaotic world, the future can only be built in the streets.

Eduardo Castilla

March 26, 2023

Joe Biden Is Deporting Russians Who Escaped Putin’s Draft — Let Them All In!

The United States is deporting Russians who sought asylum following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is a heinous attack against war resisters and shows that the proxy war in Ukraine is about capitalist rivalry first and foremost.

Sam Carliner

March 26, 2023

On Monday, Germany Will Experience a “Mega-Strike”

On March 27, German railway workers and public sector employees will shut down the whole country. All trains are being canceled. Airports, freeways, hospitals, and daycare centers will all be affected.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 25, 2023