Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

On 50th Anniversary of Student Uprising, Columbia Grad Students Strike

Teaching assistants and research assistants at the university are demanding better pay and sexual harassment protections. This week’s strike comes 50 years to the day after 700 Columbia students were arrested in protest of the Vietnam War and the school’s expansion into Harlem neighborhoods.

Amelia Robles

April 26, 2018
Facebook Twitter Share

On April 23, 1968, Columbia University students went on strike against the university’s ties to U.S. militarism and the campus’s gentrification of Harlem. The students occupied five buildings and over 700 people were arrested. Yesterday, 50 years later, Columbia graduate students began the first day of a week-long picket against the university’s refusal to bargain with their union, UAW 2110.

Graduate students at Columbia voted to unionize a year and a half ago, yet the administration has refused to sit down at the bargaining table. In response, hundreds of graduate students, who work as teaching assistants and research assistants, alongside undergraduates and faculty supporters, are walking out of classrooms during the last week of the semester.

At the picket on Tuesday, students shouted chants such as, “What’s disgusting? Union-busting,” and “New York is a union town.”

Michael Watzka, an international student in the Germanic Languages Department said that he was striking because “the university does not think that we are workers. We are working here, but the university is saying that we are not doing work. The university is spending millions of dollars on top lawyers when they could be spending the money on dental care for employees, for example.”

Several students also spoke about the issue of sexual assault, which the university has tried to cover up for many years. The contract that the union is proposing would address these issues, as well as demands for wage increases, and protections for international students, among others.

Two Columbia workers from Local 2110 whose contract is up next year, also came to support “to fight against the unfair treatment. We’re supporting our brothers and sisters in the union because they need it.”

Tania Bhattacharyya, a doctoral candidate in history and an elected member of the bargaining committee said that, “We all understand that all of these university administrations pay the same amount to union-busting lawyers, and it’s very clear for all of us to see that.” When asked about the Columbia strike’s relation to other graduate student struggles in the U.S. she noted, “I think that this is only going to grow into a larger and more coordinated movement across campuses and some point in the future hopefully multiple universities across the US will be striking together.”

Just last week, students at Harvard University became unionized after first voting in 2016.

The strike is set to end on April 30, the same day on which the mass arrests were made 50 years ago. It is important to remember that the student struggle at Columbia is one of many across the U.S. (including at the City University of New York and the University of California system, where students are also due for a new contract), and globally, as well as the importance of linking up with labor struggles across the U.S., such as those of the teachers in Arizona, and Colorado, among others.

Facebook Twitter Share

United States

“Lesser Evil” Biden Wants More Border Patrol Than MAGA Republicans

Over the weekend, Biden bragged about his support for even more resources than “MAGA Republicans.” to “secure the border” on Twitter. This is “lesser evilism” in action.

Molly Rosenzweig

March 28, 2023
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

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

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

MOST RECENT

At Least 39 Migrants Die in Fire at Detention Center in Mexico. The State Is Responsible.

The events of March 27 marked one of the darkest chapters in the Mexican State’s anti-immigrant policy, a policy that is increasingly subordinated to the interests of U.S. imperialism.

The French Union Bureaucracy Walks Back Demand for Complete Withdrawal of Pension Reform

After calling to put the pension reform “on hold,” the Inter-Union has requested “mediation,” even though the French government has rejected outright the proposal, showing that compromise is impossible. This proposition symbolizes the Inter-Union’s strategy of defeat. We urgently need to organize the rank and file to broaden our demands and generalize the strike.

Damien Bernard

March 30, 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

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