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Columbia University – Student Workers of Columbia

March 2026
Columbia University (Private college or university)
New York, NY

Identity of Speakers

  • Student Workers of Columbia
    Student
    Other

    Union representing Columbia University graduate student workers that organizes and negotiates over wages, healthcare, and workplace conditions for teaching and research assistants.

Resources

Additional Information

  • Incident Nature:
    Other student-organized event
  • Incident Political Orientation:
    Not Clear
  • Incident Responses:
    Other
  • Incident Status:
    No litigation
  • Did not involve Speech Codes

Summary

On March 10, 2026, Student Workers of Columbia, represented by the United Auto Workers, overwhelmingly authorized a potential strike, giving the union authority to call a work stoppage if ongoing negotiations with Columbia University failed to produce a first collective agreement. The vote followed extended bargaining over wages, healthcare contributions, and workplace protections for graduate student workers serving as teaching assistants, research assistants, and instructors. It did not initiate a strike but authorized one as a possible escalation if a contract could not be reached.

In the period leading up to the vote, the union and the university remained in formal negotiations over a first contract covering core employment terms, including compensation tied to New York City cost of living, healthcare funding, and grievance and anti harassment procedures. The authorization vote functioned as a bargaining tool intended to increase pressure during ongoing talks while a first agreement remained unresolved.

The organizing that led to this stage built on earlier graduate worker mobilization at Columbia, including prior contract campaigns and strike activity in which graduate workers halted work after negotiations stalled over pay, benefits, and workplace protections. Those earlier efforts established Student Workers of Columbia as a bargaining unit and centered demands on formal recognition of graduate employees’ instructional labor and improved employment terms.

The March 10 authorization was part of the continuation of that contract campaign, used to strengthen the union’s leverage in negotiations without immediately triggering a strike.