GET-UP lauds graduate strike now under way at Columbia

Eighty percent of the members of Columbia University's Graduate Student Employees United voted last Thursday in favor of an indefinite strike that began on Monday. The group is encouraging all teaching and research assistants at Columbia to join the picket line at Columbia's entrance gates.

Graduate Employees Together-University of Pennsylvania has said that it is in full support of the strike on the New York campus. GET-UP leaders also said they would not shy away from considering similar actions in the future.

"We do support them fully to be recognized and wish them all the best success," GET-UP spokesman Dillon Brown said.

Columbia GSEU/United Autoworkers organizers have said that the strike is the most recent event in the long process to gain recognition as a union.

Over two years ago, an election was held on whether students wanted to be represented by the UAW union. Since the election, Columbia filed a legal appeal with the National Labor Relations Board that has caused the votes to remain impounded.

A similar situation exists at Penn, where in February of 2003, the NLRB held an election on whether University graduate employees should unionize. The votes from that election remain uncounted due to the legal suit the University has filed with the NLRB, which is still pending.

In February of this year, GET-UP held a two-day strike on the anniversary of last year's vote. No changes in the administration's stand resulted from the demonstration. University officials maintain that TAs and research assistants are to be valued as students but hold no right to unionize as employees.

"We think that their situation is quite parallel with ours, and it's clear that they're still waiting in line for the NLRB and that the Columbia administration is using the same tactics as the Penn administration," Brown said. "We see a very distinct parallel."

Graduate and Professional Student Assembly Vice Chairman and GET-UP member Michael Janson agreed.

"I think the strike at Columbia proves that the [Undergraduate Assembly] is correct: Negotiations are the best way to avoid further disruption on this campus," he said.

Brown went on to say that the possibility of an indefinite strike remains on Penn's campus, adding, "That's the next step ... . These situations definitely form a pattern."

"Penn could look a lot like Columbia if the University continues to refuse to negotiate with us," Brown said.

In GET-UP's next general membership meeting, a vote will be held echoing the UA's resolution calling for both sides to negotiate on the issue of unionization. The possibility of setting a deadline after which another strike might occur will also be addressed.

The University has maintained its stance on the issue of unionization.

Organizers of GET-UP are also planning to hold protests on April 23 outside a dinner hosted by the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce in honor of University President Judith Rodin.

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