We met with UW administration again today for our fifth bargaining session. After some discussion in the morning, admin presented a package of counterproposals that included several articles we’ve reached tentative agreement on (refer below), as well as a new proposal on Childcare. On all other articles, UW made no movement towards our proposals. We are committed to reaching an agreement on a strong contract that meets members’ needs. In that effort, we presented a package of proposals (summary below) that would make key improvements based on members’ priorities. You can also access full text of all proposals passed on the Proposal Tracking page.
- Childcare (Article 5): Admin proposed a slight modification to their previously proposed phased increases to the childcare fund, adding an increase to the per-person amount (from $1250 and $1300) in 2022. We countered with a proposal that maintains our previous proposal for per-child-per-quarter allotments that match the UW Childcare Assistance Program, and added a proposed cap to the fund ($160,000) that would meet the utilization needs of the current fund with our proposed increases to the per-ASE amounts.
- Fee and Tuition Waivers (Article 7): We continued proposing waivers for the operating fee, building fee, IMA bond fee, facilities renovation fee, and technology fee, and moved off of our previous proposal for a waiver of the services & activities fee.
- Health Insurance (Article 13 and Appendix I): We proposed enhancements to Appendix 1 of our plan, including coverage of both in-network and out-of-network outpatient mental healthcare at 100%, introduction of coverage for assisted reproductive services, an increased annual maximum for dental care and additional services covered, expanded vision coverage, and introduction of a medical out-of-network maximum. In an effort to move toward agreement, we proposed maintaining our plan’s current language on in-network out-of-pocket maximums, dependent premiums, and the number of quarters an ASE must be GAIP-eligible in order to qualify for summer coverage.
- Leaves (Article 17) and Vacation (Article 32): After further discussion of admin’s proposed modifications to how leave, vacation, and personal time is counted, we have agreed to their proposal to change counting from days to hours. Because our concerns about logistics and application of admin’s proposed tracking have not been addressed, we continued to reject the aspects related to tracking of leave, vacation, and personal time in Workday.
- Non-Discrimination and Harassment (Article 20): We have consistently proposed increasing the number of paid positions for the EPIC program in order to meet demand and continue this critical prevention work. In the effort to move towards agreement, we lowered our previous proposal of six 50% FTE positions to five, and additionally lowered our previous proposal of 40 paid Peer Equity Team members to 30. Even at these reduced numbers, we believe this proposal would provide sufficient additional capacity to continue growing the successful and critical work of the EPIC program.
- Wages (Article 33): We proposed increasing the base wage rate to 20% above the median of our peer institutions (the Global Challenge States), and increasing hourly pay by the same percentage. This new proposal would be a substantial increase to the current base rate, and maintains our strong commitment to competitive wages that are needed to recruit and retain underrepresented ASEs at UW.
UW additionally stated that they are willing to tentatively agree to previous proposals on Article 11, Article 16, and Appendix II, and that they are willing to agree to maintain current contract language on Article 29 and LOU A.
Upcoming meetings and actions
- Next bargaining session: Monday 4/19 from 9am-5pm, with a caucus starting at 8:30am. All members are welcome and encouraged to join bargaining. To learn more about the bargaining process and get involved, please join our union’s bargaining Slack by filling out this form, and email ase-bargaining-team@uaw4121.org if you have any trouble accessing Slack. For a full schedule of upcoming sessions, check out our ASE Bargaining Center.
- Virtual rally & bargaining session for a fair contract! There are still big gaps in negotiations between what we need and what UW has offered us, especially on wages and equity proposals. To build power for a fair contract, it’s critical for all members to attend a virtual mass rally (tentatively scheduled for April 26th at noon) & kick off our final week of bargaining.
- For more info on how to get involved, check out the Get Involved page of the Bargaining Center!
In Solidarity,
UAW 4121 ASE Bargaining Committee
Douglas Avella
Vern Harner
Amzi Jeffs
Levin Kim
Kyle Kubler
Jacob O’Connor
Nayon Park
Marissa Parker
Solmaz Shakerifard
Samantha Thompson
Momona Yamagami
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