Dear Colleague,
Nelson here—Math PhD student, Teaching Assistant, and ASE Bargaining Team member. This past year, I’ve been organizing to develop our demands for international ASE protections, workplace equity, and more. This is my first time on a union bargaining team, so I wanted to share some of my experiences and impressions so far.
Yesterday was our fourth bargaining session with UW Admin. After a day of Zoom bargaining in my Padelford office, I cooled off at my department’s end-of-year party next door. Everyone wanted to hear how contract negotiations were going—ASEs, prospective grad students, postdocs, and faculty alike—and I was excited to share our progress.
Now that bargaining is underway, I’m proud of how we as ASEs can efficiently respond to every proposal that Admin sends our way, because we’ve put in the work to build our communication networks and shape our priorities for our next contract together. We’ve consistently put the ball back in Admin’s court, proving that we’re ready for them to come to the table with real offers. We have yet to hear their initial proposals on our top priorities: higher wages, lower fees, comprehensive healthcare, and protections for our international ASEs.
As Winter Quarter draws to a close, we’ll keep building our momentum into Spring. On our first Friday back from Spring Break, March 29, let’s rally together at noon to tell UW Admin that we need a contract that reflects our priorities—and we need it now.
Throughout my time in our union, I’ve been inspired by just how willing we are to stand up for our worker rights. It’s hardly surprising—our very own livelihoods are at stake. Institutional bureaucracy is oppressive in its sluggishness, in the way it sows division, making it easy to pass the buck from one administrative office to another. But we resist through unity and mobilization, by showing up for each other, for ourselves.
Keep on showing up. See you on March 29.
We have now had four bargaining sessions with UW Admin, and we are still waiting for their initial proposals on our key priority issues, such as compensation and international ASE protections, as well as their responses on all other articles.
In yesterday’s bargaining session, we made progress on Article 8: Grievance Procedure that would expand our tools to resolve workplace issues through the grievance process, including an optional step for mediation. Relatedly, to protect and expand union rights at our workplace, we reasserted our package proposal with Articles 14: Job Posting and 30: Union Security.
Management passed their initial proposal on Article 20: Non-Discrimination and Harassment that mostly maintains our current contract. Before closing out the day, we responded with a counter-proposal for this article emphasizing our top priorities in ensuring safe and equitable access to our workplace.
Questions? Want to get more involved? Reach out to ase-bargaining@uaw4121.org.
ASE Bargaining Team
Natalie Wellen (Applied Mathematics)
Justin Applegate (Biochemistry)
Tahiyat Rahman (Physics)
Anastasia Schaadhardt (Information School)
Soohyung Hur (Geography)
Yuying Xie (Geography)
Francesca Colonnese (English)
Candice Young (Molecular & Cellular Biology)
Natasha Crepeau (Mathematics)
Nelson Niu (Mathematics)
Jayden Wood (Mechanical Engineering)
Peter Lindquist (Earth & Space Sciences)
