Friday, April 12, 2019
Dear Colleague,
In this email:
- Seattle City Council Session on May 8th
- Bargaining updates
- Clarification on rules about appointment length
- #MeTooSTEM Workshops April 17th-18th
- UPASS Petition
Seattle City Council Work Session:
Confronting Discrimination and Harassment:
Best Practices, Worker Needs & Actions at the University of Washington
Wednesday May 8th, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
University Friends Meeting House, 4001 9th Avenue NE
RSVP Here; Facebook page here
The Seattle City Council’s Committee on Housing and Workers Rights (Chaired by Teresa Mosqueda) will lead a discussion about the prevalence of discrimination and harassment in Academia, and how our union will address these issues through a collective bargaining agreement. The UW President’s office has been invited to speak, so we may hear more about Pres. Cauce’s view that “culture change is most effective when it also comes from grassroots movements.”
Please RSVP here! It’s a great opportunity to hold the University accountable if we have not finished bargaining by that date.
Bargaining Update:
The Administration began yesterday’s session with a package proposal that included a few small concessions but made no movement on Non-Discrimination & Harassment, Wages, Benefits, or Childcare. They also suggested bringing in a Mediator from the State Labor Board for our future bargaining sessions.
We responded with reasonable compromises on Wages, Benefits, Retirement, Leaves, and Transportation as part of a comprehensive package proposal that includes all remaining articles.
By the end of the day, we reached tentative agreements on 4 important articles. Here is a brief summary of some of their contents:
- Appointments & Reappointments: Appointment durations must be at least 1 year, except in special circumstances. Nothing shall preclude longer appointments.
- Intellectual Property and Academic Rights: Postdocs may be PIs on grants specialized for Postdocs, or in other cases when the mentor and department give permission.
- Time & Effort Commitment: Normally, a full-time appointment requires 40 hours/week, but work schedules are flexible.
- Titles & Classifications: We have new, simplified titles: Postdoctoral Scholar and Postdoctoral Scholar – Fellow, as well as an Interim title for recently graduated PhDs continuing for less than 6 months.
You can read all current proposals and tentative agreements here.
Overall, we are seeing progress at the bargaining table that is motivated by all our efforts to apply pressure to the Administration. We could reach a fair agreement in the next four weeks, but only if we continue to mobilize.
Questions About Postdoc Appointment Length
There continues to be confusion about new rules on the total duration of Postdoc tenure, which arose from the bargaining unit agreement we reached in December. The agreement places no limit on the time elapsed since PhD, and includes five years of Postdoc tenure, with the possibility for longer tenure by exception. The agreement is in keeping with national recommendations and also reflects past practice and policy at UW. Moreover, nothing in this agreement affects the University’s ability to hire people who do not fit this definition into other titles they have typically used for people beyond their Postdoc period.
Please read this memo for more information, and refer your department administrators to it if they have any questions.
If you’re having trouble with these issues, please contact us. We will work with you to make sure administrators are following the correct policy.
Join us April 18th for #WeToo
The founder of #MeTooSTEM, Dr. BethAnn McLaughlin, is hosting multiple seminars and workshops on April 17-18 and has invited us to participate. Our union will be workshopping #WeToo: Taking on harassment & discrimination through collective action and collective bargaining, Thursday, April 18, 3:00 – 5:00 pm, Health Sciences G-328.
UPASS Rally and Petition
The campaign to bring a fully-subsidized U-PASS to all UW employees is continuing with a rally on Earth Day, April 22nd. Add your name to this petition to encourage UW to lead the way in sustainability by subsidizing transit passes for all employees.
In solidarity,
The UW Postdocs United / UAW 4121 Bargaining Committee
Tina Angerer, Bioengineering
Pamela Baker, Biological Structure
Matthew Crane, Chemistry
Marina Dütsch, Earth and Space Sciences
Max Friedfeld, Chemistry
Hannah Horowitz, Atmospheric Sciences
Megan Ivory, Physics
Ajay Jajodia, Medical Genetics
Andrew Jenkins, Chemistry
Jiae Lee, Biochemistry
Michael Mack, Chemistry
Kelly Patton, Physics
Cristi Proistosescu, Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean
Abdul Basit Shaikh, Pharmaceutics
Thomas Smith, Medical Genetics
Michael Taylor, Bioengineering
Jian Wang, Chemistry
Alex White, Psychology
Huajun Xu, Chemistry