The international president of the Transport Workers Union, which represents over 150,000 workers in the transportation industry, said the union will sue Columbia University for its failure to protect the workers during the pro-Hamas protests at the university.
725 workers at Columbia University are represented by a branch of the union.
“It’s on them to protect their workforce and they didn’t do it,” John Samuelsen said to POLITICO. He called the protesters’ behavior “an outrageous affront to working people,” adding, “We’re exploiting every legal means at our disposal against Columbia, against the individual occupiers of the building … [who] thought that they could hold our custodians hostage to their ideology.”
Samuelsen reportedly wrote Columbia University president Minouche Shafik a letter asking for the names of the protesters arrested inside Hamilton Hall, video footage from the hall, and the number of protesters involved as recorded by the NYPD.
Samuelsen claimed in the letter that at least one “smarmy, sanctimonious, elitist … occupier” who took over Hamilton Hall at the university told custodians at the building they could not leave because “this moment is bigger than you,” prompting the custodians to battle to reach one of the barricaded exits to escape.
On April 30, the NYPD confronted the activists at Columbia who had taken over Hamilton Hall, bringing a heavily armored vehicle that had a ladder deployed so that officers could enter the building through an upstairs window.
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A facility worker who was in the building had yelled, “They held me hostage” as he left Hamilton Hall around 12:40 a.m., on April 30, according to Campus Reform, minutes after the protesters stormed the building.
The day before, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said that the university had not been able to reach an agreement for the group to disband its camp. She stated, “To that end, since Wednesday, a small group of academic leaders has been in constructive dialogue with student organizers to find a path that would result in the dismantling of the encampment and adherence to University policies going forward. Regretfully, we were not able to come to an agreement,” she said.
Leif Le Mahieu and Ryan Saavedra contributed to this article.
Related:
Anti-Israel Protesters At Columbia Take Over Campus Building, Barricade Themselves Inside
NYPD Storms Columbia’s Hamilton Hall After Pro-Hamas Protesters Illegally Took Control Of Building