New York, NY – In the latest assault on First Amendment rights, Columbia University has expelled and fired Grant Miner, President of UAW Local 2710, which represents thousands of Columbia student workers. The firing comes one day before contract negotiations were set to open with the University.

The shocking move is part of a wave of crackdowns on free speech against students and workers who have spoken out and protested for peace and against the war on Gaza. As the UAW has emphasized, the assault on First Amendment rights being jointly committed by the federal government and Columbia University are an attack on all workers who dare to protest, speak out, or exercise their freedom of association under the US Constitution.

It is no accident that this comes days after the federal government froze Columbia’s funding, and threatened to pull funding from 60 other universities across the country. It is no accident that this firing has occurred the day before contract negotiations begin. It is no accident that the University is targeting a union leader whose local went on strike in the last round of bargaining. It is no accident that this is happening at Columbia University, where student workers won back the right to collective bargaining in 2016.

Trade unionists everywhere, defenders of the Constitution, of freedom of speech, of academic freedom, and of the right of free association, should be appalled and disgusted by the behavior of Columbia University, and should take it for the clear signal it is. If they can come for graduate workers, if they can arrest, deport, expel, or imprison union leaders and activists for their protected political speech, then they can come for you. For your contract. For your paycheck. For your family. And for your rights.

UAW Local 2710 is mobilizing a response, and calls on all allies of the working class and Americans of good conscience to speak out and stand up against this gross injustice.

The UAW represents 100,000 higher education workers, including campus staff, student workers, faculty, research assistants, and postdoctoral fellows, at Columbia University and beyond.

Drawing on our long tradition of protest, support for international peace, and commitment to education for all, the UAW condemns in the fullest terms recent actions taken by the Trump administration to cut federal research funding; to detain, intimidate, and deport students; and to attack our members’ First Amendment rights.

As we stated under the previous Presidential administration, “The UAW will never support the mass arrest or intimidation of those exercising their right to protest, strike, or speak out against injustice.”

The Trump administration’s decisions will impact critical research, academic work, and the livelihoods of all campus workers including thousands of UAW members, and are unacceptable.