On December 2, Columbia University’s vice president of human resources Daniel Driscoll sent out an email stating that if workers who have been on an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike didn’t return to work by December 10, their positions would be replaced. The workers are three thousand members of Student Workers of Columbia (SWC), part of UAW Local 2110, and have been on strike since November 3.

“What they’re threatening is illegal,” says Becca Roskill, an undergraduate member of SWC’s bargaining committee and a course assistant in the computer science department. While SWC continues to bargain for its first contract, the current work stoppage followed members filing ULP charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). While it is legal to replace workers on an economic strike — though even Joe Biden is now arguing against such a move as Kellogg’s threatens to replace its own striking workers — it is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act to permanently replace workers who are striking over unfair labor practices.

“We’ve had ULPs out since the beginning of the semester,” explains Roskill, “one, based on the fact that they gave 0 percent raises when the precedent had been 3 percent raises each year on, and the other based on the fact that they’ve restructured the stipend disbursement schedule so that they had the ability to withhold wages from striking instructors.”