Support Columbia University Graduate Students Strike

* Nelson Lichtenstein and Joshua B. Freeman email to
faculty seeking support for Columbia University
graduate teaching assistants

From:"Nelson N. Lichtenstein"

Dear Friends:

As many of you may know, the graduate teaching
assistants at Columbia University have been on strike
since April 18. They are demanding that Columbia drop
its appeal of an NLRB-recognition election held two
years ago. While the appeal awaits resolution, the
ballots remain uncounted and the union unrecognized. We
are asking faculty members who work at universities
that engage in collective bargaining with graduate
teaching assistants to join us in appealing to the
President of Columbia University to allow the ballots
to be counted and to abide by the results. We want to
emphasize to the University that we know from our own
experience that collective bargaining with graduate
student teachers does not harm higher education
institutions.

If you would like to sign this letter, please send an
e-mail, as soon as possible, to jbfjbf@aol.com, with
your name, title, department, and University. This
particular letter is meant for those at universities
that have recognized graduate student unions, so please
respond only if you fit into that category. I am sure
our support will mean a great deal to the striking
students and perhaps help nudge Columbia to recognize
the labor rights of its graduate students.

Yours,

Joshua B. Freeman, Professor of History, Queens College
and the City
University of New York

Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History, University
of California at
Santa Barbara

Lee Bollinger
President
Columbia University

Dear President Bollinger:

We appeal to you to end the current conflict between Columbia University and its teaching
assistants union. We urge Columbia to withdraw its appeal of the two-year old National Labor Relations
Board supervised recognition election in which the graduate students participated, allow the votes to
be counted, and abide by the results. We all teach at universities where graduate students
engaged in instructional activity belong to recognized collective bargaining organizations. We have
found that such unionization in no way impedes or diminishes the quality of the teaching and
scholarship that takes place at any level of instruction or research. Collective bargaining with graduate
student teacher unions is not uncharted territory; it currently takes place at some two-dozen
major universities in the United States (and a similar number in Canada). In some cases, it has been
taking place for decades.

For three-quarters of a century, federal and New York State labor laws have recognized that
workers themselves must decide whether or not they want to engage in collective bargaining without
interference by, or reprisals from, employers. Whether unionism serves the best interests of graduate
student instructors is an issue that they themselves should be allowed to decide. If they have
chosen collective bargaining, we can assure you, from our personal experience, that Columbia still
will be able to carry out effectively its many functions and serve its constituencies well. Unionism
is not a threat to higher education. Denying graduate students fair treatment and basic rights
can only diminish our community.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua B. Freeman, Professor of History, Queens College
and the City
University of New York

Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History, University
of California at
Santa Barbara

cc: UAW Local at Columbia University

Nelson Lichtenstein
Professor of History
UC Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
nelson@history.ucsb.edu
(0) 805-893-4822
(h) 805-966-5745
(fax) 805-893-8795