Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Columbia University’s Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies Department Refuses To Hire Scabs

Columbia University’s Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies has issued a statement refusing to hire scabs for the spring semester. All departments should follow its lead, stand in solidarity with student workers, and defy the university’s orders to break their strike.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

December 18, 2021
Facebook Twitter Share

Columbia University student workers have been on strike for seven weeks. It is the second time this year that these 3,000 student workers and members of UAW Local 2110 have been on strike. 

Two weeks ago, Columbia threatened to retaliate against the student workers by stripping them of their spring semester appointments. On December 16, 114 members of Columbia’s Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS) department — faculty, students, and alumni — issued a statement speaking out against the repression of striking workers and refusing to hire scabs:

On December 2nd, graduate student workers on appointment across the university received an email suggesting that those who are on strike as of December 10th will not receive spring semester appointments or will otherwise not be prioritized in the appointment process as a form of punishment for exercising their legal right to strike. This constitutes a clear and illegal retaliatory measure on the part of the university administration, a measure which threatens hundreds of student workers with financial precanty and illegal employment termination and which puts international students on F-1 and J-1 visas at even more risk.

We, members of the Department of Middle Eastem, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia University, would like to express our strong disapproval of the efforts of the university administration to intimidate our striking graduate students by threatening to hold up their teaching appointments in the spring. We consider these tactics unproductive and unconscionable, and we call on the administration to work with our teaching assistants and their union representatives to bring a just and quick end to this strike — which is having such devastating effects on the entire university community. We, members of the MESAAS department, refuse to distinguish between striking and non-striking students in the department’s internal planning around assignments for the Spring.

As the MESAAS statement makes clear, Columbia’s actions are illegal retaliation against workers who have the right to strike under the law. But the university’s attacks against the student workers go much further. Columbia is freezing compensation and changing the stipend disbursement schedule. And despite an outcry from students and professors, Columbia has refused to withdraw the threat to replace striking workers. 

This one department is taking the issue into its own hands, refusing to comply with the university’s scare tactics by not distinguishing between striking and non-striking workers. In other words, MESAAS will continue to appoint striking workers to positions and will not hire scab labor for those jobs in the spring. Every Columbia department should follow this example. 

Across New York City, nearly 700 higher education researchers and educators, both full time and adjunct, have signed a statement refusing to act as scabs in Columbia’s spring semester. The letter was signed by GSOC-UAW Local 2110, which represents NYU graduate students, and Professional Staff Congress (PSC)/CUNY, which represents CUNY graduate students. 

Columbia graduate students are on strike to win three major demands: comprehensive healthcare benefits, including dental care (which has resulted in a popular picket line chant — “We have teeth!”); neutral third-party arbitration in cases of harassment; and increases in wages. New York City already has a very high cost of living, and inflation is driving it higher. At present, Columbia student workers are paid between $6,000 and $19,000 less than the living wage calculated for New York City

As James Dennis Hoff explains in an earlier Left Voice article,

These demands follow on the heels of the most recent financial statement of the Columbia Board of Trustees, which shows that during the pandemic, the university increased its net assets by a whopping 20 percent, or $3.3 billion. The union has argued that meeting their full demands would cost less than one half of one percent of these assets

Solidarity and support for the Columbia strikers has come from throughout the city, with student workers from many other schools joining picket lines. All departments at Columbia should follow the MESAAS lead and refuse to hire scabs, and it is essential that student-worker unions at other universities pledge to refuse to scab. It’s time for everyone to join the picket lines at Columbia University.

Facebook Twitter Share

Tatiana Cozzarelli

Tatiana is a former middle school teacher and current Urban Education PhD student at CUNY.

Labor Movement

“Our Big Push Was for Union Democracy and a Plan to Win”: An Interview with the Amazon Labour Union Democratic Reform Caucus

Two years after the historic victory at JFK8, Amazon workers voted in a referendum in their union. They want to hold new elections and revise the constitution, as part of a struggle to make ALU more democratic and militant. Left Voice spoke with two organizers to discuss the struggle in ALU.

Luigi Morris

March 20, 2024
A banner reads "Real Wages Or We Strike" at a rally for CUNY, which is experiencing cuts from Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul.

CUNY Faculty and Staff Have Gone One Year Without a Contract — It’s Time to Strike

CUNY workers have been without a new contract for a full year and the university has yet to make any economic offers. It's time to take action.

Olivia Wood

February 29, 2024
Florida governor Ron DeSantis stands at a podium that reds "Higher Education Reform"

U.S. Higher Education Is Being Gutted, but We Can Fight Back

Across the United States, higher education is being gutted through program eliminations and budget cuts. We must prepare to fight these attacks with everything we have.

Olivia Wood

February 28, 2024
CUNY workers at a demonstration hold a banner that reads "STRIKE TO SAVE CUNY."

CUNY Workers Launch New Strike Campaign

As Governor Hochul proposes another $528 million in cuts, workers at the City University of New York are fighting back.

Olivia Wood

February 12, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024