TODAY at 5pm: Take Action for Reproductive Justice
Join members at the emergency rally TODAY (6/24) at 5pm at the Federal Building in downtown Seattle (915 2nd Ave). Our Solidarity & Mobilization Workgroup has been working with a coalition of other community organizations and activists to build organizing plans for reproductive justice, including an emergency rally in anticipation of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
To prepare for the rally, join the Rapid Mobilization Signal chat to connect with other 4121 members, review these protest safety resources, and join the #reproductive-rights channel on the ASE Slack (open to all members). If you’re interested in getting more involved, join our next Solidarity & Mobilization Workgroup meeting — for more info post to the Slack channel or email solidarity@uaw4121.org for more info.
Summer Organizing Workshops To Build Power
RSVP for this summer’s Workshops to Build Power! Join fellow 4121 members across UW for a series of organizing trainings to learn more about how we can build power to win structural changes at UW and beyond!
With this summer’s trainings, we’re trying something new. Members will go through the series in cohorts that each focus on building a particular campaign – e.g., around bargaining, housing justice, an issue in your department, or anything else you can think of. Synchronous trainings will run every other week, and will be a great place to develop tools and strategies for building power. On off weeks, cohorts will put the training content to work and actually build their campaign together. More information about the schedule and cohorts can be found here.
If your Organizing Committee already has an issue or campaign you’d like to work on this summer, you can join as a pre-formed cohort. If you don’t have an OC or a group already put together, you can sign up individually and you’ll be grouped up with others based on your interests.
Trainings will run in July and August on Tuesdays from 5:30-7pm via Zoom. (Synchronous training dates: July 12, July 19, August 2, August 16, August 30). For more information and to RSVP, fill out this form. If you have questions, ideas for a new cohort, or would like to talk more with an organizer, you can also email political-education@uaw4121.
U-PASS for All Celebration
Starting July 1, UW will provide all faculty and staff with a fully-subsidized transit pass, in addition to the many campus workers (including ASEs and Postdocs!) who had previously won it in union contracts. Winning this benefit was a top priority for our union, and is the result of a multi-year campaign by UW workers, labor unions including UAW 4121, community organizations, and transit and environmental advocates. Together, we held rallies, stopped traffic, wrote letters, bargained contracts, delivered petitions, testified at meetings and more. The UW put up incredible resistance, telling us there was no way they could provide this benefit. And now, finally, they’re doing it.
Come celebrate this victory with snacks and ice cream next Thursday, June 30 from 4-6pm! Head to the grassy area north of the UW School of Law, just two blocks east of the U-district Light Rail Station. RSVP and share on Facebook or just drop by.
Climate Justice Workgroup Meetup!
Join the Climate Justice Work Group for a social hour! We will meet at Burke Gilman Brewing (3626 NE 45th St) at 6pm on Thursday, June 30th. This event is open to everyone, whether you’ve come to a CJWG meeting before or not! Email climatejustice@uaw4121.org if you’re interested in joining our workgroup.
Sinai Postdocs Vote Union Yes
This week, Postdoctoral Fellows at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai voted 317 to 37 (89.5%!) in an historic union election to form their union with the UAW. Solidarity and congratulations!
Labor Notes Conference
Last week, several UAW 4121 members participated in the Labor Notes conference in Chicago alongside 4000 other labor organizers and activists from around the world. We joined with other West Coast UAW Academic Workers to lead panels and workshops on organizing new workers, taking direct action, running democratic meetings, and more. Members also had the opportunity to connect with and learn from many others – including other UAW members, Starbucks and Amazon workers, and others from countless sectors – about their experiences building powerful organizing campaigns.
In Solidarity,
Justin Applegate
Ana Bennett
Erica Bigelow
Nick Bolten
Jonathan Fisher
Max Friedfeld
Colleen Hoffman
Levin Kim
Avi Matarasso
Nicel Mohamed-Hinds
Erin Morgan
Emily Myers
Amal Nanavati
Anzela Niraula
Marissa Parker
Mark Rafferty
Tahiyat Rahman
Anastasia Schaadhart
Audrey Seo
Jer Steeger
Sam Sumpter
Samantha Thompson
Natalie Wellen
Tricia Wu
Yuying Xie