Protections for International Student Workers

• Minimal-legal sharing: Ensure that international student information is not shared with the Department of Homeland Security beyond what is legally required

• Re-establish Columbia as a “Sanctuary Campus”

• Protect international student jobs and do everything possible to help international students facing issues entering the US or facing deportation threats

• Academic continuity: In the case that an international student cannot stay in the US, Columbia will make accommodations to ensure that they are still able to complete their work and work towards their degree

Learn more about our demands and the reasoning behind them.

Read the contract article (for an explanation about what the red text means, see here).

• Increased wages commensurate with cost of living + 20% savings that allows workers financial stability. 

• Pay parity between 9 and 12-month appointments

• Cost of Living Adjustment which ensures that yearly wage increases meet or exceed inflation. 

• A transparent and regular pay schedule

• Matching contributions for retirement

See our full list of compensation demands and learn about the reasoning behind them.

Read the compensation article here.

• Federal agencies and NYPD units have been identified as threats to public safety, with the SRG frequently being considered by criminal defense attorneys across the city as a threat to public safety, particularly for individuals of color. Allowing NYPD and DHS agents to access campus poses a significant risk for the safety of all workers and students, with emergency medical services being denied to students who have been severely injured by both public safety and NYPD on campus.

• Cooperation with federal agencies has been evident in the disenrollment of students.

• Surveillance data has been misused in disciplinary hearings, frequently misidentifying individuals based on building swipes and campus CCTV footage. This poses a significant risk to student workers: even an accusation of a rules-of-conduct violation can prevent a student from accessing their transcript or registering for courses, and sanctions for disciplinary misconduct can be as severe as suspension, putting student-worker status at risk.

• Additionally, recent campus measures have arbitrarily closed entrances and academic buildings without a 24-hour notice and often at evening hours. This poses a significant inconvenience to workers who have time-sensitive work in research labs.

See our full list of health & safety demands and learn about the reasoning behind them.

Read the health & safety article here.

• Adding caregiver status, transgender identity as protected classes; expanding the definition of disabilities to include intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, and mental health disorders

• Shorter timelines for workers to secure accommodations from the Office of Disability Services

• Adjustment of timelines to address and resolve complaints to hold OIE accountable

• Earlier access to neutral arbitration for OIE complaints– complainants will no longer have to exhaust both the lengthy OIE process and the appeals process to access arbitration

• A Power-Based Harassment article with a formalized system for reporting and resolving these issues

See our full list of demands and learn about the reasoning behind them.

Read the contract article.

• The right to teach and research the topics of our choice, and the right to speak as individuals without unreasonable discipline

• Expanded intellectual and property and copyright protections, including over teaching material.

• Conscientious objection by student worker originators to protect against abuses

• Recognition of student workers as significant contributors or originators of scientific conceptions/inventions

See our full list of demands and learn about the reasoning behind them.

Read our academic freedom article here.

• Increases to the amount of child care subsidies for parents

• 16 weeks of parental leave at full pay, with the option of 36 weeks at 67% pay

• Increased flexibility in scheduling and alternate teaching assignments

• The ability to return early from parental leave without sacrificing leave pay

• Insurance benefits during parental leave

• The ability to apply to the Adoption Assistance and foster parenting program

Read our article here

• Union Security

  • Expand access to union membership to student workers in our bargaining unit through a union or agency shop, which will ensure that all workers are protected equally by the contract, receive union communications, and pay dues

• Union Activity

  • Full access to campus for our organizers, and access to University space for meetings.

  • Better ways to reach out to members, including union bulletin boards and longer orientation slots

  • An SWC space on campus

  • Timely and reliable information about who is eligible to join our union

Union Leave

• Allow the union up to 5 total workers to be released from research or instructional work (or take a leave of absence) in order to do labor-intensive union roles

See our full list of union rights demands and learn about the reasoning behind them.

• Relocation funds for first-years and materials reimbursements

• Compensation for time spent on workplace trainings

• Adequate office space for teachers and researchers

• Increased vacation times and modified personal days and visa/immigration leave

• Reimbursed commute fare

• Electronic access to our employment files

• Don’t replace our teaching or research jobs with generative Artificial Intelligence.

• Let workers choose how they want to use Artificial Intelligence to support their job duties.

• Don’t use personal data or intellectual property to train AI models without worker consent.

• Commit to not signing contracts with firms that violate UNESCO standards for ethical AI. 

• Neutral audits of University AI usage that holds them accountable to scholars