Columbia graduate student group files labor board charges against UAW-affiliated campus union

According to GRADS’ filing, UAW representatives have pushed for proposals such as limiting campus police activity, promoting university-wide boycott and divestment policies related to Israel, ending a dual-degree program with Tel Aviv University, and reversing disciplinary actions against students suspended for damaging property or disrupting work conditions. The charges state: “These and similar actions constitute bad faith bargaining…and violate the duty of fair representation that respondent union owes to all represented graduate students.”

Attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation are also representing other graduate students challenging what they describe as discriminatory practices by campus unions. This includes Jewish students at Cornell University who object to certain union affiliations on religious grounds and another student contesting the scope of union bargaining powers established by the 2016 Columbia University ruling.

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix commented: “Far from facilitating a more harmonious relationship between graduate students and the Columbia administration, UAW union bosses are simply ramping up radical extremism at a university that has already seen more than its share of chaos. While it’s wrong from the start that any student is forced to accept union boss ‘representation’ they oppose, it’s even less acceptable that UAW union officials are trying to use their monopoly bargaining privileges to enforce their divisive politics on the entire campus, including undergraduate students.”