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GSEU Strikes, Classes Temporarily Disrupted By Katie Goldstein Columbia Spectator March 11, 2002
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Emblazoned with "Count the Vote" stickers and chanting "Union busting is
disgusting," research and teaching assistants from Graduate Student Employees
United spent a chilly spring Monday picketing outside the gates at 116th
Street and Broadway. Columbia clerical workers from United Auto Workers Local 2110 joined the GSEU members in a continuing effort against the University's appeal of a National Labor Relations Board ruling in February, which entitled graduate TAs and research assistants at Columbia to unionize. At the demonstration's peak, there were about 450 strikers, said Associate Vice President for Public Affairs Virgil Renzulli. Members of the Undergraduate Coalition for Union Rights, Yale University's Student Labor Action Coalition, NYU's Graduate Student Organizing Committee, and maintenance workers from the Transit Workers Union joined GSEU and the clerical workers at various points during the strike, which lasted from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. "It was a great success," said Greg Vargo, a GSEU member and graduate student in the history department. "I think it showed how committed people are to getting a union here on this campus." The focal point of the day was a noontime rally that took place in front of the Uris Business School after New York City police told the demonstrators that they did not have the correct permit to block the sidewalk on Broadway. Various leaders spoke to the assembled crowd of hundreds, garnering frequent rounds of cheers and applause before the group marched around Low Library on its way back to the Columbia gates. Banging plastic tubs and sporting signs like, "Make love not appeals," the strikers chanted, "This is what democracy looks like; that is what hypocrisy looks like," while pointing at Low Library and the administrative offices it houses. The strike manifested itself on campus in more ways than the presence of chanting picketers. Monday was the beginning of the last full week of classes, and despite the proximity of finals week, three-quarters of Logic and Rhetoric sections were cancelled, Vargo said. "It wasn't a normal day," Vargo said. "We do the work, and we weren't doing it." "I know a lot of people who were annoyed because you pay a lot of money, and then don't have your classes," Nancy Yerkes, CC '05, said. While the majority of other classes were not affected, some instructors felt a conflict of interest. "My L&R teacher said she felt really torn about what to do because she said she stands for the union but wanted to give our papers back," Yerkes said. She said her teacher did not hold class but asked students to meet her at a coffee shop so she could return their papers and conference with each of the eight students because their final exam is on Wednesday. "[Striking] seems to me to be not only selfish, but really detrimental to the entire goal of education here," said Giovanni Ruffini, a member of Graduate Students Against Unionization and graduate student in the history department. |
Other campus disruptions included the clerical worker strike, which complicated
the union's relations with the administration. Renzulli said the University
believes that a strike by the clerical workers is a violation of the collective
bargaining agreement and has filed an Unfair Labor Practice against the
union with the NLRB. Vargo and Booker Washington, vice president of Local 2110 and employee in Student Financial Services disagreed, arguing that the clerical union never agreed to a no-sympathy strike clause. Vargo added that Local 2110 filed an Unfair Labor Practice against the University last week, because the administration sent out letters to clerical employees that threatened their jobs. "I think it's shameful that the administration would resort to threats and intimidation to discourage people who work here from trying to stand up for the rights of TAs and RAs," Vargo said. Renzulli disagreed with the assertion. "We did not send threat letters about people losing their jobs," he said. "We did send a letter, however, telling Local 2110 members who did not report to work yesterday that they would be docked a day's pay for the day's work they missed and that they might be subject to further disciplinary action." Renzulli said the position of the University has not changed regarding the appeal. Votes from the March election will not be counted until the NLRB rules on the University's appeal, a process that will likely take months. The University administration believes that anti-union students won the election according to an analysis involving "feedback the administration received from various schools, departments and student organizations" and voter turnout favoring anti-union groups, Renzulli said. "I think the UAW will regret the urgency with which it wanted the votes to be counted," Ruffini said. "I think that anti-union students won the election." "If they believe that we lost [the election], why don't they count the ballots?" Phil Wheeler, DIrector of UAW Region 9A, asked. GSAU members did not attend the strike. Ruffini said that GSAU's role in the unionization debate is over. "Every day we spend on this issue is a day we spend not doing the work we do on this campus," Ruffini added. "We don't stand a realistic chance of breaking this thing up by inflating rats on Broadway and 116th." Wheeler said that GSEU/UAW will strike for recognition no matter what the NLRB decision. "Even if [the NLRB] reverses the decision they made at NYU, we're not going away," he said. Amba Datta contributed to this article. |