Monthly Membership Meeting – Organizing Across Units
Join fellow 4121 members at November’s Membership Meeting, to be held Thursday, November 10, 2022 from 5-6 pm. The meeting will be held on Zoom, and you can fill out this RSVP form to access the Zoom link. All members in good standing are encouraged to attend, and new members may sign up for UAW4121 by filling out this membership form.
Join the meeting to connect with other ASEs, Postdocs, and Research Scientists! This month’s meeting will focus on organizing across units, and the ways that the different units represented by 4121–Academic Student Employees, Postdocs, and Research Scientists–can join together as 8,000 members strong in solidarity to win on issues that affect us all as UW academic workers. Relatedly, we’ll be talking about exciting updates from our union siblings in the University of California locals (UAW 2865 & 5810), whose members overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike in November if necessary to win a fair contract.
The proposed agenda for the meeting is as follows:
- Approve Agenda
- Approve Minutes
- Organizing updates & solidarity actions
- Cross-unit organizing across ASEs, PDs, and RSEs
- Adjourn
Any member who would like to propose additional agenda items or submit materials for the meeting is welcome to email uaw4121@uaw4121.org by 5pm on Wednesday, November 9. For more information about how the meeting will be structured and how you can use Zoom’s features to participate, check out this page on our website.
Solidarity with 48,000 UC Workers who voted YES for a historic strike!
This week, a majority of 48,000 academic workers in the UC system – including Academic Student Employees, Student Researchers, Postdocs, and Academic Researchers of UAW 2865, UAW 5810, and UAW-SRU – voted in a historic Strike Authorization Vote (SAV). 36,558 votes were cast, representing 76% of all bargaining units, and 98% of those votes were YES. This is the largest and most decisive strike authorization vote ever taken by academic workers in the US. Go to http://www.fairucnow.org/support/ to find ways you can show solidarity for striking workers, like donating to the UC Academic Workers Strike Support and Hardship Fund. A strike could happen as early as November 14th. A strike of this magnitude will grind teaching and research across all UC campuses to a halt, demonstrating the integral role of these 48,000 workers.
At next week’s monthly membership meeting (Thursday 11/10 at 5pm over Zoom) open to all ASE, Postdoc, and RSE members, we’ll be discussing some initial takeaways from this historic action and how it came together through intentional organizing & capacity building over the last year and beyond. RSVP here (more details above) to discuss more, including strategizing for effective cross-unit organizing, building on each other’s wins, and to participate in a quick solidarity action for the UC strike.
Indigenous Peoples Month
We are occupying unceded ancestral lands of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples, as well as the broader Coast Salish nations. They are a people who have stewarded this land since time immemorial and continue to uphold their traditions and culture today. This Indigenous Peoples Month, we can support the Duwamish peoples by paying rent at RealRentDuwamish and/or donating to the Duwamish Longhouse. Additionally, the Duwamish nation and Chinook nation are currently fighting for federal recognition. You can sign their petitions here and here and follow the Instagram accounts @realrentduwamish, @duwamishtribe, and @everydaychinook to stay in the loop. Other ways you can support include mutual aid (as many Indigenous communities are unhoused) and volunteering with the Duwamish River Community Coalition, Heron’s Nest, and the Na’ah Illahee Fund.
Vote! Get Midterm Ballots in by 11/8, UAW Ballots in by 11/18
Midterm Elections: Ballots are due for the Midterm Elections on Tuesday, November 8th! This is a critical election for Washington state legislative and congressional races. If you’re registered to vote in WA, you should have received your ballot by now: please take a minute today to send it in. Through our Political Work Group, UAW 4121 members assembled questionnaires, reviewed candidate responses and their records on our core issues, and conducted several candidate interviews. The result is a strong slate of recommendations that, if elected, will fight for issues most important to us. Find all of our UAW endorsements, and more info, here!
UAW Elections: By now all UAW members should have received your ballot for the first-ever direct election of UAW International Executive Board (IEB) positions! All members in good standing are eligible to vote, and you’re encouraged to mail in your completed ballot by Friday, November 18 to ensure it arrives in time to be counted. You can find information about the candidates, election rules, and more at the IEB Elections page on our website. If you haven’t received your ballot, you can request a new one at http://uawvote.com/main.html or by calling 855-433-8683. You can also track your submitted ballot at http://uawvote.com/main.html.
Support SHRC Opposition to Sweeps Today 11/03 6PM
Sign up for public comment today 11/03 for the Seattle Human Rights Commision meeting at 6PM on Zoom to support their proposed legislation to oppose the city’s ongoing encampment sweeps and to reject all public dollars in the upcoming budget that contribute in any way to sweeps. You can also submit written comments over email and sign this petition from Stop the Sweeps (@stopthesweepsseattle on Instagram, @Stop_Sweeps_SEA on Twitter). More information for public comment here: https://tinyurl.com/SHRCcomment. You can follow @uw_studentsolidarity on Instagram to stay in the loop on actions like this.
GPSS Safety Town Hall Today 11/03 7:30PM
GPSS (Graduate and Professional Student Senate) will be hosting a town hall today 7:30-9PM at Kane Hall 130/Zoom in regard to the concerns about safety resources and initiatives on the Seattle campus. Please RSVP here. Even if you are unable to make it, you can leave feedback and questions on the form. There will be in person and Zoom live-captioning.
Seattle Solidarity Budget Week of Action 10/31-11/09
The 2023 Seattle Solidarity Budget is a collective call toward a city budget that centers the needs of the most marginalized and vulnerable Seattle residents, responds with funding that is commensurate with the crises we are facing, and prioritizes collective care and liberation. Divesting from police, courts, and prosecutors and investing in Black communities goes hand in hand with climate justice work and housing justice work and participatory budgeting. Please participate in Solidarity Budget’s week of action from 10/31 to 11/09, with more details at https://bit.ly/sbweekofaction. You can also find more information on Decriminalize Seattle’s social media (@decrimseattle on Instagram and @DecrimSeattle on Twitter).
Door Knock for Social Housing Saturday 11/05 12-3PM
Join House our Neighbors! for their FIRST door-knocking canvass to get out the vote for Initiative 135! Talk to our south-end neighbors and get the word out about social housing ahead of our February election! Sign up here and meet at Rainier Playfield (3700 Alaska St). You can also find more information on House Our Neighbors’ social media (@houseourneighbors on Instagram and @houseRneighbors on Twitter).
People’s Budget Rally 11/05 2PM at New Hope Baptist Church
Over 6,000 people have signed the petition demanding the City Council Democrats fund free abortion for all by taxing big business! This is an important start, but to win we’ll need to build even more pressure on the Democrats to vote YES on our People’s Budget demands. That’s why Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s office is organizing a People’s Budget Rally on Saturday, November 5th at 2:00PM at New Hope Baptist Church. The People’s Budget demands are listed below:
- Free abortions for ALL funded by increasing the Amazon Tax! It would only cost $3.5 million, which is less than 1% of the Seattle Police budget!
- NO to Mayor Harrell’s proposed wasteful spending of $1 million for Seattle Police to acquire ineffective ShotSpotter technology. Fund affordable housing, public services, and community programs, instead!
- Fund new Tiny House Villages to meet the enormous need of our homeless neighbors for supportive, transitional housing.
- Fund renter eviction defense and rental assistance for people facing eviction! Working people are getting squeezed by record inflation and greedy landlords.
- Fund the Clean Greens program, which provides free fresh produce to low-income people in the Central District.
- Fund the Garfield SuperBlock in the Central District.
In Solidarity,
Justin Applegate
Lucia Baker
Ana Bennett
Rebecca Bluett
Nick Bolten
Francesca Colonnese
Pat Erickson
Max Friedfeld
Colleen Hoffman
Soohyung Hur
Levin Kim
Brianne King
Avi Matarasso
Nicel Mohamed-Hinds
Emily Myers
Amal Nanavati
Anzela Niraula
Marissa Parker
Mara Rafferty
Tahiyat Rahman
Anastasia Schaadhart
Audrey Seo
Jer Steeger
Sam Sumpter
Samantha Thompson
Natalie Wellen
Tricia Wu
Yuying Xie
