Undergraduate Worker Power: Barnard Resident Assistants File for Union Election

RAs at Barnard are joining a wave of undergraduate workers organizing across the country. They’re demanding better compensation, a manageable work schedule, and better communication from the administration.

SEIU Colludes with Columbia to Push Through Contract for Staff

The proposed contract would provide raises of only three percent per year, an effective pay cut. Workers are waging a “Vote No” campaign.

Fordham University Hates Adjuncts

Fordham University remains committed to paying adjunct faculty far less than a living wage, depriving them of health benefits, and discriminating against faculty in the Graduate School of Social Services.

Fordham Graduate Student Workers Unionize

Graduate students at Fordham University are paid more than $15,000 below what’s needed to pay for basic living expenses in New York City. Last week, they announced they are forming a union local of the Communication Workers of America (CWA). An anonymous adjunct instructor at Fordham writes about the importance of solidarity.

Another Broken Promise: Biden Scraps Free Community College Proposal

Jill Biden confirmed today that two years of tuition-free community college won’t be part of any Build Back Better legislation. This shows, yet again, that Democrats don’t care about the working class.

Cancel Student Debt Now

The Biden administration has confirmed there will be no extension on the student loan moratorium, with repayments set to restart February 1, 2022. The working class should fight not just for extension of the moratorium, but what has always been needed: education as a right that is not commodified. We need a movement to demand the elimination of student debt altogether, along with free public college and university education for all who want it.

Columbia Seeks Scabs. NYC-Area University Educators Refuse

Columbia is trying to hire scabs to replace student workers for spring semester in an effort to break their 7-week-long strike. Student workers at NYU-GSOC have organized a pledge that no academic worker will cross the picket line by applying for or accepting these jobs. We reprint the pledge here and urge readers who work in higher education to sign on as individuals and ask their unions to do the same.

Dear Columbia: Denying Student Workers Healthcare and a Living Wage Is the Real Violence

Columbia University’s administration has denounced the “violence” at this week’s completely peaceful picket by student workers. Do not be fooled: the real violence is the university denying student workers healthcare, a living wage, and neutral third-party arbitration.

Unite Our Struggles: All Out for Columbia Student Workers

Student workers at Columbia University have been fighting to win a first contract for almost four years and are once again on strike. In order to win, they will need the support and solidarity of students and faculty across the city and across the country.