Page 7 - Student Workers News Today

By Judy Greenspan and Minnie Bruce Pratt In the struggle over public schools, the question is what will win out — churning out workers for the profit system or safety for the people? On the West Coast, angered by the Oakland Unified School District’s inability to tackle the rapidly spreading…

While this second TA has been hailed by the leadership on both sides as a “historic deal,” it is nothing of the sort.

The strike lasted ten weeks, but this agreement is the culmination of almost ten years of organizing.

The agreement follows negotiations that grew tense at times, and those on both sides said they were glad to see the stalemate end.

With the spring semester set to resume January 18th under the spectre of a disrupted campus, Columbia administrators offered a tentative agreement late Thursday.

The strikers voted on Friday to end their 10-week walkout, which was the largest active strike in the United States when it ended.

The ongoing struggle at Columbia has thus far, under the criminal leadership of the UAW and with support from the Democratic Party and the pseudo-left, been implementing a strategy of defeat for workers.

The largest labor action in the country has the potential to transform higher education.

<p>"The 3,000-person strike at Columbia University is the largest active strike in the U.S. and marks a decades-long struggle to recognize grad-student labor."</p>

Whatever gains the striking union at Columbia University wins will be looked to as a model by other campus efforts.