Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers and the Columbia University Resident Advisors Collective filed unfair labor practice charges on July 8 to the National Labor Relations Board alleging Columbia has “repressed and harassed their students and workers.”

The unions cited instances of the University calling the New York Police Department to campus, using surveillance methods to identify and punish employees, and limiting campus access.

CURA Collective filed an additional unfair labor practice charge against Columbia alleging that leadership has refused to bargain and has engaged in “bad faith bargaining,” according to its case filed to the National Labor Relations Board.

“These three charges that we’re making, that bringing NYPD onto campus, using surveillance, and limiting campus access are all ways in which Columbia is infringing on our right to participate in protected concerted activity,” SWC-UAW President Julia Bannon said. “SWC has had multiple instances now of the University calling NYPD to our meetings and using drones to surveil our meetings or having public security record pickets or rallies on their phones—that’s all illegal under federal law.”

University President Minouche Shafik authorized the NYPD to sweep the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on April 18 and sweep protesters occupying Hamilton Hall on April 30. Throughout the academic year, the University also closed campus access to CUID holders ahead of anticipated pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

“We remain committed to negotiating in good faith with CURA and believe the charges they filed, as well as the other charges by SWC, are without merit,” a University spokesperson wrote in a statement to Spectator. “We will resume in-person bargaining upon the return of students to campus.”

The Federal Service Labor-Management Relation Statute states that federal employees are protected in their “right to organize, bargain collectively, and participate in labor organizations of their choosing.” An unfair labor practice charge is defined as conduct by an agency, such as Columbia, that violates the rights that the statute protects.

SWC-UAW alleges Columbia violated section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act, which prohibits employers from “spying on employees’ union activities,” “threatening employees with adverse consequences if they engage in protected, concerted activity,” and being allowed to “discipline, or take any other adverse action against employees because of their protected, concerted activities.”

CURA Collective also alleges Columbia violates section 8(a)(3), which prohibits an employer from discriminating “in regard to hire or tenure of employment or any term or condition of employment[,] to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization.” An employer that violates 8(a)(3) also violates section 8(a)(1), according to the act.

Bannon said a main reason for filing unfair labor practice charges now is because the first contract between SWC-UAW and the University expires in June 2025. SWC-UAW went on strike twice in 2021 to demand a contract that offered better protections and compensation for student workers. In the union’s 2022 agreement with the University, SWC-UAW agreed to a no-strike clause, preventing them from legally striking before their contract expires in summer 2025.

“The intensity with which we’ve seen Columbia crack down on protest activity and surveil our protected activity is really concerning. If workers were to go on a legal strike in the next year or two, would they use surveillance to try to figure out who is and isn’t on campus?” Bannon said. “Would they potentially circumvent the University Senate to call NYPD onto campus, to like, quote unquote, supervise pickets, which is obviously an intimidation tactic? So it’s partially defensive, looking toward the reasons why we need these rights as a labor union in the future.”

CURA Collective filed an additional unfair labor practice charge on July 2 for refusal to bargain and for bad-faith bargaining, according to the union collective’s Instagram post from July 11. The union alleges Columbia violates section 8(a)(5) of the National Labor Relations Act, which makes it an unfair labor practice for an employer “to refuse to bargain collectively with the representatives of its employees.”

CURA voted for recognition through the National Labor Relations Board on May 2, 2023, and won the union election 75-4, with 95 percent of Columbia RAs voting in favor of unionizing. Despite forming over a year ago, the union faced delays and cancellations before first beginning bargaining with the University in February.

“In our final Bargaining session, Columbia laid all their cards on the table, making it clear that they would not offer a Zoom option for bargaining over the summer,” the July 11 Instagram post states. “In fact, Columbia University’s lawyer stated that he believed it would be more productive not to bargain at all than to bargain over Zoom.”

SWC-UAW has been active in supporting pro-Palestinian protests on campus by co-sponsoring demonstrations in conjunction with Columbia University Apartheid Divest. In June, SWC-UAW passed a resolution in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and a permanent removal of the NYPD from Columbia’s campus.

“We’re chartered as a social justice union. So we also believe in exercising our collective power that maybe labor has brought us together, but we can use that collective power to make positive changes in other areas,” Bannon said.

Each charge is investigated by NLRB agents and their findings are evaluated by the regional director. A decision is made within seven to 14 weeks about the merits of a charge, although “certain cases can take much longer,” according to the NLRB.