We write to you as concerned members and organizers with your union, UAW Local 2478. In the last month the Trump administration has revoked Harvard’s enrollment in the SEVP program, imperilling Harvard’s international students and postdocs, and paused ALL new student interviews pending new social media screening and vetting programs.[1]. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced visa revocations for Chinese students, but we have yet to see this materialize. A “travel ban” has been issued targeting multiple countries [2]. And as we speak, ICE is terrorizing Los Angeles and other American cities.
As government officials have laid out, these decisions are based on the administration’s aggressive foreign policy; and its domestic policy targeting academic freedom and independence of American academia. International students are being used as a political bargaining chip.
We commend Caltech’s decision to join Harvard and other universities and participate in legal action to reign in these policies. After we delivered our letter to President Rosenbaum, we received a response saying that Caltech would expand its interpretation of our contract to further support international scholars. Caltech only responded to this because of our collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Caltech also expanded the interpretation of our CBA to include legal expenses – i.e., international students can now get up to $500 in legal fees reimbursed. More recently, GPS sent an email that said, “If you are detained by immigration enforcement, the institute will vigorously pursue legal aid for you as soon as it is alerted to your situation.” President Rosenbaum also expressed a desire for our union and Caltech to work in a collaborative manner.
We have only been able to expand on these wins because we prioritized strong protections for international workers in our contract and were able to organize to pressure the admin to go beyond the contract. As we’re faced with continuing threats to the rights of our international coworkers, the only way to ensure these wins endure is through sustained engagement with our union. Becoming a member of our union, continuing to attend actions, and getting involved in organizing shows the administration that we are united in standing to defend our international graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.
As a UAW 2478 member, your dues will support efforts like the UAW Immigration Hotline (888-416-2110), which connects any worker facing an immigration emergency to legal resources, and our local’s International Workers’ Committee (IWC), which provides a direct avenue for us to voice our concerns and priorities to the Caltech administration. There is safety and power in our numbers – if you want to stand with your international coworkers, join as a member of our union today and reach out to organize@cgpu.org to get involved with our IWC!
In solidarity,
UAW 2478 International Workers’ Committee