It’s been 18 months since our contract expired. What has happened since then?
Fall 2026
October 19th, 2026: In the twenty-first bargaining session, SWC brought counters on union activity, appointments, and child care. After seeing the results from a poll of members, the bargaining committee decided to lower the yearly compensation demand from 76k to 68k. Columbia had not formally responded to our compensation proposal, and they still did not provide a counter in this meeting, even after a 90 min break in bargaining.
September 30th, 2026: In the twentieth bargaining session, SWC brought a counter on benefits. Columbia brought a counter on non-citizen students.
August 31st, 2026: In the nineteenth bargaining session, SWC brought a counter on nondiscrimination and harrasssment. Columbia provided offers on child care and benefits.
August 10th, 2026: In the eighteenth bargaining session, SWC brought forward the compensation article. SWC also brought counters to the union activity, child care and benefits articles.
Summer 2026
July 28th, 2026: In the seventeenth bargaining session, SWC brought counters on union activity, leaves of absence, surveillance, and health & safety. Columbia brought counters on tax assistance, union activity, nondiscrimination & harrassment and transitional funding. After a series of GBMs and internal polls, the bargaining committee withdrew the proposal on obligations under international law. Columbia had previously refused to counter, stating that these demands were permissive subjects they would not engage with.
July 9th, 2026: In the sixteenth bargaining session, SWC and Columbia brought new counters on tax assistance, nondiscrimination & harrassment, retirement benefits, academic freedom, AI, and student conduct. A tentative agreement (TA) was reached regarding professional development, and discipline & discharge.
June 16th, 2026: In the fifthteenth bargaining session, SWC and Columbia brought new counters on union activity, nondiscrimination and harrassment, academic freedom, and union leave.
June 3rd, 2026: In the fourteenth bargaining session, SWC brought new counter on leaves of absence, vacation and workspace & materials. Columbia brought a counter on professional development. Articles on travel, transportation, research integrity, and copyright & intellectual property were withdrawn. A tentative agreement was reached on the union management committee and holidays.
Spring 2026
May 12th, 2026: In the thirteenth bargaining session, SWC brought new counters on surveillance & monitoring, union management, professional development, and discipline & discharge.
May 6th 2026: SWC updates its bylaws to improve the speed that the bargaining committee could make counter offers. Despite these formal changes, SWC is still committed to the same democratic decision-making as before.
May 4th, 2026: In the twelth bargaining session, SWC brought new counters on child care, transitional funding, union management, and holidays. Columbia brought a counter on non-citizen students.
April 28th, 2026: In the eleventh bargaining session, SWC brought new counters on non-citizen students, AI, and union management articles. Columbia brought counters on nondiscrimination & harrassment, professional development, and discipline & discharge.
April 13th, 2026: In the tenth bargaining session, Columbia brought new counters on non-citizen students, nondiscrimination & harrassment, transitional funding, and grievance & arbitration.
April 8th, 2026: In the ninth bargaining session, SWC brought new counters on non-citizen students, child care, nondiscrimination & harrassment, and AI. Columbia brought new counters on grievance & arbitration, employment files, union management, and holidays.
March 20th, 2026: In the eighth bargainining session, SWC brought new counters on benefits, nondiscrimination & harrassment, and grievance & arbitration.
March 10, 2026. SWC announced an initial SAV member vote where 91.5% of voters stated they were willing to strike over our demands. While this vote signaled a strong support for an immediate strike, our parent organization United Auto Workers expressed concern regarding permissive subjects in our proposals and claimed the proportion of our bargaining unit that had signed union cards was insufficient for a strong strike. We believe that the UAW is misunderstanding the nature of our bargaining unit with their concerns. Regardless, we know that a strong strike requires action from as many workers as possible, and union organizers have been working hard to increase our number of card signing members and prepare for a strike if Columbia does not make an acceptable offer at the table.
March 9, 2026. In the seventh bargaining session, Columbia brought new counters on benefits, trainings, and grievance & arbitration.
February 27, 2026. In the sixth bargaining session, SWC brings forward articles on union rights, SWC appointments, benefits, non-discrimination & harrassment, surveillance & monitoring, health & safety, academic freedom, discipline & discharge, international law, academic & student conduct, vacation, housing access & security, research integrity, intellectual property, and union management articles. Columbia brings a counteroffer on non-citizen students.
February 11, 2026. In the fifth bargaining session, SWC brings articles on transitional funding, AI, retirement benefits, and relocation. SWC and Columbia discuss the child care article.
January 23, 2026. In the fourth bargaining session, SWC brings forward an article for compensation. We continue to bargain over working conditions, international student protections, and grievance & arbitration.
January 9, 2026. In our third bargaining session, SWC brings forward articles on working conditions and non-discrimination & harassment (NDH) and continues to bargain over grievance & arbitration.
Fall 2025
Dec 2nd, 2025: Columbia files a second ULP pertaining to good-faith bargaining.
November 24, 2025. SWC brings forward an article for healthcare in our second bargaining session.
November 7, 2025. SWC and Columbia hold their first bargaining session. SWC brings forward articles for international student protections, health & safety,, and grievance & arbitration.
Oct 17th, 2025: Columbia agrees to hold bargaining sessions at a neutral location that can accommodate in-person observers.
Oct 6th, 2025: A scheduled bargaining session occurs, but CU only books a room for 20 observers. SWC requests to move the session to a new location to accommodate open bargaining, but at the last minute CU cancels. In response, SWC workers march to CU admin officers with the articles in hand. Later that day, Columbia gives a 3% raise to all workers.
Sep 3rd, 2025: After the university filed a Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the union’s General Body Meeting (GBM) voted to drop the demand for open bargaining on zoom under the condition that a neutral third-party location is selected that is large enough for the number of observers who attend in-person.
Spring and Summer 2025
July 10th, 2025: Columbia offers to extend current contract and pause bargaining.
June 9th, 2025: Columbia puts forward a compensation counteroffer with 2% raise, which is notably below the minimum guaranteed raise of 3% already in our contract
May 21st, 2025: Columbia begins to cut and eliminate student preceptorships in Core classes. SWC circulates a petition to save core preceptorships. This move hurt both our strike power and students who relied on preceptorships for income and a strong teaching CV.
April 14th & 25th, 2025: Scheduled bargaining session with Columbia is cancelled due to disagreements on the status of open bargaining. SWC was fighting to allow bargaining to be viewed by all our members, including those who were not in NYC due to increased ICE abductions and those banned from campus for participating in campus movements for Palestinian liberation.
March 21, 2025. Columbia capitulates to Trump, including: the instatement of a mask ban; the authorization of Public Safety to arrest students on campus; and an agreement to remove faculty control over the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS) Department, the Center for Palestine Studies, and several other institutes and academic programs, placing them under academic receivership. Academic freedom and protection against unreasonable discipline and termination become core demands of our contract campaign.
March 14, 2025. The day after firing our President, Columbia cancels our first scheduled bargaining date, with over 400 member-observers.
March 13, 2025. Columbia fires SWC President Grant Miner from their teaching job and expels them for participating in the campus movement for Palestinian liberation.
March 6 and March 8, 2025. On March 6, the U.S. Department of State revokes SWC member and GSAPP student worker Ranjani Srinivasan’s international student visa without any cause or explanation. Once ICE moves against Ranjani, Columbia disenrolls her and demands that she vacate university housing immediately. SWC works with Ranjani to access legal resources and safely leave the country. On March 8, ICE abducts recent graduate and former SWC member Mahmoud Khalil. Mahmoud had sought help from Columbia University and been denied. Both cases become rallying cries for SWC members concerned about our international student members. Preventing similar cases from recurring becomes a major goal of the contract campaign as we develop our international student protections article . We also began developing safety resources for international students.
Fall 2024
December 23, 2024. SWC notifies the University of its intent to bargain for a successor contract.
October 2024. Student Workers of Columbia (SWC) members begin drafting contract articles.
See our proposal tracker sheet for a full view of our bargaining progress, and our bargaining blog for a more detailed look at these bargaining sessions.
This timeline was last updated Nov 2, 2026.