4/27 Bargaining Summary // Important Membership Meeting Wed 4/28

Below you’ll find summaries of the proposals passed today, as well as important info about a critical membership meeting this Wednesday. In addition, you can find full text of every proposal passed on the Proposals Tracking page, and a quick guide on where some of the key proposals stand here. For more info, check out the Bargaining Center or email ase-bargaining-team@uaw4121.org.

Our next scheduled bargaining session is Thursday 4/29 from 9am-5pm. All members are welcome and encouraged to participate in bargaining sessions — for more info on how to join, check out this page on the website.

Membership Meeting Wed 4/28 at 5pm

While we are providing updates below, all members are encouraged to attend a special membership meeting Wednesday at 5pm to discuss how we can escalate our campaign to win a strong contract. Please take a minute now to RSVP and invite at least two others in your department to join you!

4/27 Bargaining Summary  

After yesterday’s successful rally, UW administration filed a request for a mediator from PERC (Public Employment Relations Commission) this morning. However, they are holding off on initiating the mediation process for now. In an effort to keep communication open and ultimately explore ways to reach an agreement before our contract expires on 4/30/2021, we attempted to engage in an open off-the-record discussion with admin this morning. Unfortunately, admin was not open to a substantive off-the-record discussion, saying that they felt we were still not showing movement. We have consistently made movement while maintaining our key priorities, in the effort to reach a fair agreement before our contract expires. After substantial discussion in our union caucus, members decided to put together a “what-if” package based on some of the movement that we explored in the morning, which we presented to admin at the end of the day. 

A “what-if” proposal is a package of proposals (i.e., multiple articles), where the proposals are all contingent on one another. That is, we might not agree to any of the individual proposals if they were presented outside of the package. Individual articles in a “what-if” proposal can be tentatively agreed (“TA”ed) upon by both sides if that is suggested, but there is no requirement of this. If the “what if” package is rejected (i.e., not accepted in full), then both sides can go back to their last stances and we would not be beholden to anything in the “what-if” proposal. “What if” proposals also enable both sides to explore different combinations of proposals that–in total–could settle many (or most, or all) outstanding issues in the contract. 

4/27 Proposals Summary  

The 3-year “what-if” proposal we passed to administration this afternoon includes all of the remaining open articles and appendices in our contract. Although we have been clear about our priorities and made considerable movement on our proposals, management has not clearly indicated to us where or how they would be willing to make movement.  In hopes of continuing good faith bargaining, this proposal includes multiple significant shifts which we are making to better assess where and how management might be most willing to make movement on our key issues. We expect to hear whether or not they accept this package proposal on Thursday, which will inform our next steps.

• Salaried wages: We proposed that admin increase base wages to match the median of what student employees at our peer institutions earn, and that this be adjusted and continued each year of our contract.
• Hourly wages: We proposed the minimum hourly rate be increased to $17.05/hour to match other unionized workers at UW.
• Fees: We proposed an annual lump sum payment of $400 to all ASEs (equivalent to the two new fees we previously proposed waiving).
• EPIC & Peer Equity Teams: We proposed a pilot program for Peer Equity Teams focused on 10 departments and coordinated through the EPIC program, as well as four total paid EPIC trainers.
• Mental Health: We proposed a 5% increase to in-network mental health coverage (from 90% to 95%), and a 30% increase to out-of-network mental health coverage (from 60% to 90%).
• Dental: We also simplified our proposals regarding dental coverage, but continue to propose an increased maximum benefit and decreased our co-insurance payment for major dental surgeries.
• Vision: We maintained our proposal to cover eye exams every 6 months.
• Childcare: We proposed increasing our childcare allotment to $1600 per quarter with a total fund increase to $96,000.
• U-PASS and Non-Discrimination: We are maintaining our proposals regarding the U-PASS and non-discrimination, and believe we are in conceptual agreement with admin on these proposals.
• Time-Off Tracking: In the context of this “what if” package, we agreed to track time off in Workday, effective September 16, 2022.
• Individual Development Plans: Also in the context of this “what if” package, we withdrew our proposal of a new article regarding Individual Development Plans (IDPs). We are committed to continuing to organize around this important issue regardless of whether they are included in the contract.
• Resignation & Abandonment and Grievance Procedure: We continued to reject admin’s proposals regarding resignation & abandonment, as well as their proposal to remove our right to file grievances directly at Step 2 and remove standing quarterly arbitrations.

You can find the more specific details about each of these here, and full text of all proposals here.

Social media

Please use the hashtag #WeAre4121 when you post on social media about our proposals, organizing actions, and bargaining in general! This way, we can continue the conversation online, and in particular, all members are encouraged to post about how the proposals that have come up in bargaining impact our lives and work as ASEs, as well as how taking action together through our union enables us to take on structural issues at UW and in our community. And engage with content from other union members as well! The links to the UAW 4121 social media channels are: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok.

In Solidarity,