10/5/2025 BC email to CU HR on its refusal to meet at Trinity Lutheran Church for scheduled bargaining session
SWC Bargaining Committee’s email to Coumbia University HR on October 5 at 8:27pm.
Dear Linda,
We are disappointed that the University has chosen to cancel our bargaining session. The room proposed by the University does not even have room for both negotiation teams, much less a reasonable number of observers as agreed upon. We took it upon ourselves to seek out and secure an alternative that we had hoped would be mutually agreeable. The University has called the Trinity Lutheran Church “inappropriate,” for reasons entirely unexplained and opaque. Our lawyers have been in discussions for weeks and not once did your lawyer convey objections to either a neutral meeting place or in-person observers. We are both profoundly disappointed and surprised by your cancellation. You cannot refuse to bargain anywhere except Studebaker and this 20-person room in the Interchurch Center. As a reminder, we are seeking neutral space because the University has illegally sought to condition bargaining by controlling which of our representatives can enter these spaces.
We remain, as always, committed to negotiations over a successor contract. We have put forward a location with appropriate capacity for in-person observers, and asked if the Sockman Lounge in Interchurch is available in the coming weeks, including specific dates at which we are available. We would be happy to discuss terms for bargaining logistics and dates at our next bargaining session after we have shared the draft contract articles we have prepared. As a reminder, the University has been in possession of our proposals for ground rules since April and is free to bring a formal response to these proposals at any time.
Please let us know when Columbia is prepared to meet for a bargaining session over our contract articles in a suitable room, such as the Trinity Lutheran Church or Sockman Lounge.
Sincerely,
SWC's Bargaining Committee