The Indypendent65%
Dream Team of Three Congressional Primary Winners Joins UAW Union Rally for Columbia University Researchers 9%
By Amba Guerguerian44%
7/1/2026, 12:01:49 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 9 faulty reasoning types, including Politically Left Leaning Bias, Biased Writer Voice, and Overconfidence Bias, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 12.3% saturation with 173 hits. Analysis detected 731 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,408 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20.6% and a BS Rank of 9% (23,244 of 25,289 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 91.90% of the article peer group.
Three recently elected Democratic nominees for Congress — Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez and Brad Lander — spoke at a Tuesday rally for CPW-UAW Local 4100, the union that represents 1,600 postdoctoral workers at Columbia University.
The lunchtime rally was held in a pedestrian plaza outside the university’s massive medical center in Washington Heights.
Drawing over 200 participants, it took place on the day CPW-UAW’s current contract was set to expire and right before a bargaining session between the union and Columbia.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the university and the union have yet to settle on a new contract.
CPW-UAW won its first contract in 2020 after unionizing in 2018.
With their second contract expiring, the union is asking for pay raises that match the rate of inflation, a housing guarantee, additional protections for international workers, and increased childcare for its members.
Darializa Avila Chevalier (second from left), Brad Lander and Claire Valdez appear together for the first time since their June 23 congressional victories shook the Democratic Party establishment in New York and beyond.
Credit: Roman Broszkowski
In addition to the left’s congressional dream team of Avila Chevalier, Valdez, and Lander — UAW endorsed all three in their primary contests — the rally featured speeches from Brandon Mancilla, the Director of UAW Region 9A (which covers eastern New York, New England, and Puerto Rico), and multiple CPW-UAW organizers.
“We need people in Congress who have sat across the table from a boss and bargained.”
Union organizers stressed their bargaining demands, criticized Columbia for the pace of negotiations, and emphasized solidarity with organized labor movements at other universities.
They also noted Columbia’s $16 billion endowment, which makes it one of the wealthiest universities in the country.
The rally took place in New York’s 13th congressional district, which will almost certainly be represented by Avila Chevalier starting next January.
A former Columbia student and member of UAW Local 2325, which represents legal advocates and attorneys, Avila Chevalier said in her speech that she “will be with [CPW-UAW] in this fight for many years to come.”
Valdez was on the bargaining committee for UAW Local 2110, which represents technical, office, and professional workers at Columbia.
“Anytime a union is taking on Columbia, know that I will be there with you in that fight,” she said in her speech.
After the rally, Valdez connected her personal experience on the bargaining committee to her likely future work in Congress.
“We need people in Congress who have sat across the table from a boss and bargained … I sat in that room,” she said, referring to the building where CPW-UAW’s bargaining team negotiated with Columbia an hour later.
Lander stressed solidarity in his speech.
“UAW has been there for me, and I was sure as heck gonna be up here for you.
Something powerful is moving in New York City right now,” he said.
“The word for that spirit that is moving in this city is solidarity.”
Later on, Lander linked CPW-UAW’s negotiations with Columbia to a broader attack on free speech and working conditions at universities across the city and nationwide.
“Unless we stand up for the concept of higher education that is a resource for everyone and not a privilege for the few, unless we stand up against the assaults of the Trump regime on higher education, and unless we realize all those fights are one big fight, we are going to wind up worse off,” Lander said.
Postdoctoral researchers from UAW Local 4100 listen to speakers during a lunchtime rally outside the Columbia Medical Center.
Credit: Roman Broszkowski
The Tuesday rally was the first time the three congressional nominees had been together in person since their primary elections one week earlier, a fact that Lander highlighted during his speech.
All three nominees ran on left-wing platforms and were endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
While Avila Chevalier and Valdez were endorsed by the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, Lander was backed by the Working Families Party — a coalition of labor unions and community organizations that also endorsed Valdez’ opponent, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso — in the June 23rd primary.
Despite their ideological differences on issues like Palestine, Lander and Valdez both committed to working together in Congress towards their shared goals.
“Certainly in the context of the United States Congress, the WFP-backed candidates and the DSA-backed candidates have an immense more in common than we do differences,” Lander said.
Valdez emphasized fighting a common enemy: “In my shop at Columbia, I didn’t agree politically on every single thing with my coworkers … but we were up against a pretty bad boss, a pretty wealthy and powerful boss, and that if we were going to win … that was going to require us working together.”
“That’s the orientation I take to Congress too, and I’m going to build coalition with anyone who wants to see a dignified and equitable world for working people,” she added.
Members of UAW Local 4100 join together at the end of their rally for a new contract.
Credit: John Tarleton
CPW-UAW organizers were grateful to have Avila Chevalier, Valdez, and Lander as political allies.
“They’ve always been supportive of our campaigns,” said Stefano Cataldi, an organizer and higher education delegate with CPW-UAW.
“We hope that they can continue to show power to the big landlord and the big corporations who are running these businesses … at the national level for everybody else,” Cataldi added.
When asked on Tuesday about next steps if the bargaining session proved unsuccessful, union organizers had their minds set on future escalations — including a potential strike.
“We’re definitely prepared to do whatever it takes, what’s necessary to survive in this city.
We definitely have the power, and we definitely have the people,” Cataldi said.
“But we really hope that [Columbia] can understand that they need to address these demands, and we can avoid going into a strike.”
Pierre-Jacques Brun, a former bargaining committee member and the current financial secretary of CPW-UAW, said that “we are ready to go through a strike authorization and ask our members if they want to strike … Overwhelmingly, I think members will say yes to [a strike].”
After the rally, CPW-UAW’s bargaining committee negotiated with representatives from Columbia.
According to Anna Yoney, a unit chair and bargaining committee member with the union who spoke with The Indypendent early Wednesday afternoon, the bargaining session that started at 1 p.m. lasted until nearly midnight.
“We went into that session to both reiterate and stand behind [our] demands, but also to make our best effort to reach an agreement with Columbia before expiration,” Yoney said.
“We tried our best.”
CPW-UAW’s current contract with Columbia expired Tuesday at midnight.
While working conditions are required to continue according to the expired contract, the union can no longer raise grievances against Columbia for any future violations of the expired contract.
With the contract expiring, CPW-UAW leadership will now assess the will of their membership before pursuing further escalations.
“The willingness of our members to take action is only increasing now … Our plan will be to continue to escalate,” Yoney said.
“We take [the contract’s expiration] very seriously … so we’re definitely trying to move as fast as possible without compromising our core demands,” she added.
Yoney said that a strike “is definitely on the table, but we need to go back to our members and see exactly where they’re at.”
The Tuesday rally — and particularly the presence of Avila Chevalier, Valdez, and Lander — seemed to have made an impact on negotiations.
“The political allies we brought to that rally, the amount of people, the energy, just the fact that they stayed in the room with us that late — it shows that they felt the pressure,” Yoney said.
On Wednesday afternoon, CPW-UAW accepted Columbia’s offer to extend the current contract by two weeks, according to Yoney.
The unit chair and bargaining committee member added that “we will continue to bargain with them.
We think their offer represents a response to our organizing actions.”
July 2 Update: On Wednesday afternoon, CPW-UAW accepted Columbia’s offer to extend the current contract by two weeks, according to Yoney.
The unit chair and bargaining committee member added that “we will continue to bargain with them.
We think their offer represents a response to our organizing actions.”
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