Friday, January 25, 2019
Dear Colleague,
UW Admin passed over a counter-offer to our proposal on Non-discrimination and Harassment. The counter-offer removes the substance from our proposal, and replaced it with boilerplate references to state and federal statutes that already govern our working conditions and have been demonstrably inadequate for addressing discrimination and harassment currently experienced by UW Postdocs. The controversy over the recent proposed changes to Title IX show us that we can not rely on such regulations to ensure consistent, modern standards for identifying and eliminating harassment and discrimination in our workplaces. Take 10 minutes to take our equity survey if you haven’t yet! Participating in the survey is our form of collective action, demonstrating to UW management that we want equitable research and laboratory spaces.
Bargaining Updates:
During bargaining on Thursday, we passed a package proposal that included Appointments and Reappointments, Discipline and Dismissal, and Layoffs. The UW administration passed counter-proposals on Professional Development and Career Counseling, Intellectual Property, Orientations, and the aforementioned Non-discrimination and Harassment. We passed counter proposals on Professional Development and Career Counseling, and Non-discrimination and Harassment. We reached a tentative agreement on Orientations, an article that ensures new Postdocs get a Postdoc-specific orientation at least once a quarter, in addition to the standard new employee orientation. At these orientations, new Postdocs will also get an opportunity to learn about the workplace protections our union is working to strengthen. You can find all of the proposals and tentative agreements .
The Government Shutdown is Affecting Hundreds of Postdocs:
Hundreds of federally-funded Postdocs across the country have missed paychecks since the beginning of the shutdown on December 22nd, including many at UW. As a result, many Postdocs have to decide between continuing to do research and being able to survive. UW Postdocs working at federal agencies, like Seattle’s NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, are unable to enter their offices or interact with colleagues. We have learned that the and certain credit unions are currently offering resources like unemployment benefits and zero-interest loans, which may be available to Postdocs. If you are affected by the shutdown, and in particular if you have not been paid as a result, please contact bargaining committee member Hannah Horowitz (hmhorow@uw.edu). We are working with the UC Postdoc Union, UAW 5810, to amplify our voices on how the continued shutdown is affecting our nation’s research enterprise and Postdocs’ lives.
As always, this is your union, so don’t hesitate to get in touch via ,or our inbox!
In solidarity,
Your UWPU / UAW 4121 Bargaining Committee
Tina Angerer, Bioengineering
Pamela Baker, Biological Structure
Matt Crane, Chemistry
Marina Dütsch, Earth and Space Sciences
Max Friedfeld, Chemistry
Hannah Horowitz, Atmospheric Sciences
Ajay Jajodia, Medical Genetics
Kelly Patton, Physics
Hossein Sartipizadeh, Aeronautics & Astronautics
Abdul Basit Shaikh, Pharmaceutics
Thomas Smith, Medical Genetics
Michael Taylor, Bioengineering
Jian Wang, Chemistry
Alex White, Psychology
Huajun Xu, Chemistry