Cynthia Nixon Joins Picket Line With Columbia University Grad Workers Union on Strike

Cynthia Nixon joins striking graduate workers at Columbia University in their fight to secure a union contract.

  Cynthia Nixon, Democratic Candidate for Governor, joined the weeklong strike and picket line at Columbia University. Nixon called on Columbia University to recognize the Graduate Workers Union and begin negotiating a union contract.

“I stand in solidarity with you today because I know that your story is part of a larger story in New York. New York has become the single most unequal state in the country,” Cynthia Nixon said. “But one of the most powerful ways to tackle systemic inequality and austerity is through joining a union.”

3,000 teaching and research assistants at Columbia University began a one week strike on Tuesday, April 24 to protest the university’s refusal to bargain with the graduate workers union. The strike comes nearly a year and a half after Columbia’s graduate workers voted overwhelmingly to unionize with the United Automobile Workers Local 2110.

“I’ve been a union member ever since I started my acting career,” said Nixon. “I know the power and importance of unions. A union for the graduate workers at Columbia would help many of them them fight back against cuts to their already low-salaries of nearly $30,000 a year. A union can help combat sexual harassment in the workplace and help workers gain dignity, respect, and power.