The picket line has brought its strikers friendship, unity, and proximity to that sought-after contract. For Tamara Hache and Niccolò Bigagli, it has also brought them love.
Hache and Bigagli found themselves near each other on a picket line during the strike this spring. Bigagli, who was serving as a picket captain, started one of the standard chants. He led the group in “Up, up, up with the workers! Down, down, down with the bosses!”—and out of exhaustion shouted an ill-phrased “Up, up, up with the bosses!” That moment of unintentional anti-union sentiment brought Hache and Bigagli together through laughter. Ever since, they have been a Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers “it” couple, taking on mediations, rallies, and marches with fervor.