Tell Columbia and Barnard: Reinstate Fired Staff for Palestine Now!
On May 10th, Clara C., an administrative assistant in a Columbia language department and union member of United Auto Workers Local 2110, was terminated by the university. Her termination came just three weeks after she visited the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on April 18th during her unpaid lunch break.
Clara was initially suspended in a surprise meeting with HR on May 1st, with the reason for her suspension never stated. A grievance filed by her union immediately following her suspension was ignored by the university, denying Clara the opportunity to present evidence or understand the accusations against her. Columbia neither acknowledged nor scheduled a date for the grievance of her suspension, and instead terminated Clara on May 10th. With no prior disciplinary record or performance issues, the only reason ever given for her firing was “the serious misconduct that occurred on April 18, 2024.”
We now approach one full year of horrifying violence from the Zionist entity and unremitting indifference from the so-called “world leaders” we are told to believe can stop it. All the while, institutions like Columbia and Barnard wage campaigns of repression against their own workforce, expanding surveillance and the use of police, bringing disciplinary actions against their staff, and firing those who refuse to fall into line. With multiple workers now terminated by Columbia and Barnard for speaking out in support of divestment from Israel, against its genocidal campaign in Gaza, and for Palestinian liberation–we need your help to fight back–because our struggles are interconnected, and none of us can be free until all of us are free.
Workers are asking you amidst so much violence to please take one moment if you can to stand with those who make Columbia and Barnard run, and to show your support by signing the open letter that an autonomous group of staff organizing for Palestinian liberation have collectively drafted with their current demands. The fight for divestment from Israeli apartheid and occupation cannot continue unless we can effectively stop our employer’s repression in its tracks.
Their demands are clear:
(1) Immediate reinstatement for Clara C., terminated by Columbia in May, and for all fired university workers at Columbia and Barnard
(2) Compensation for the emotional and material harms their employers have caused
(3) An end to baseless HR investigations into anti-Zionist workers
(4) For labor unions across higher education to treat the coordinated university suppression of protest of genocide as an emergency for the rights of all workers, worthy of proactive planned countermeasures from rank-and-file union members, community members and union staff
(5) For total university and union divestment from Israel, an end to genocide, and a free Palestine within our lifetime
Sign their open letter today at bit.ly/FiredforPalestine
