Local 4100 Postdocs Rally at Columbia, Joined by Congressional “Dream Team”

On Tuesday, hundreds of Columbia Postdoctoral Workers-UAW Local 4100 rallied before a bargaining session on the day their contract expired to demand a fair contract from the university.

Joined by three recently elected UAW-endorsed Democratic nominees for Congress—Darializa Avila Chevalier (UAW Local 2325), Claire Valdez (UAW Local 2110), and Brad Lander—members sought to push on Columbia to make progress at the table.

“The political allies we brought to that rally, the amount of people, the energy, just the fact that they stayed in the room with us that late—it shows that they felt the pressure,” unit chair Anna Yoney told The Indypendent.

Local 4100 represents 1,600 postdocs at Columbia, who are demanding pay raises that match the rate of inflation, a housing guarantee, additional protections for international workers, and better access to childcare in their second contract. CPW-UAW won its first contract in 2020 after unionizing in 2018.

Claire Valdez, who was on the bargaining committee for UAW Local 2110 representing technical, office, and professional workers at Columbia, told the crowd, “Any time a union is taking on Columbia, know that I will be there with you in that fight.”