Support affordable housing!
Attend a Town Hall! Members of UAW Local 4121 have been actively involved in organizing for revenue for social housing and supporting a Green New Deal through the Tax Amazon campaign led by Council Member Sawant and supported by a broad coalition of community organizations. This measure, if passed, would create $300 million for the City of Seattle to address the housing affordability crisis. You can get more involved in the campaign by contacting our UAW Housing Justice workgroup at housing-justice@uaw4121.org.
Now, a new bill is moving in the state legislature that could give authority to the King County Council to raise much-needed funds for affordable housing and supporting homeless populations for the entire county (not just Seattle). The bill is HB 2948 (previously HB 2907), sponsored by State Legislator Nicole Macri (who you might remember publicly and consistently supported ASEs during contract negotiations in 2018). As currently written this bill would comprise a much-needed step in addressing the housing crisis. However, a possible amendment to the bill could jeopardize efforts to raise sufficient revenue by pre-empting cities like Seattle from voting in additional taxes. In the worst case, pre-emption could result in King County receiving authority from the state to raise revenue for housing while stopping Seattle from doing the same (through campaigns like Tax Amazon). The Seattle City Council has sent a letter supporting the bill but opposing pre-emption. Representatives of big business in Olympia are pushing hard for pre-emption, and Rep. Macri has indicated that while she’s not personally in favor of pre-emption it is not off the table.
This weekend state representatives will be holding town halls for members of their districts. This is a great opportunity to make your support for HB 2948 with no pre-emption clause heard, as well as show our representatives that UAW members are involved and listening. You can find a list of the locations and times for these town halls for House members here and Senate members here.
Equity Survey: One Week Left
Time is running out to take the equity survey! Now is the best time to take the survey to make sure your voice is heard and counted. Already taken it? Rally your colleagues and friends! With more than 1200 surveys already in, we still need 1800 participants to hit the goal set by members in December.
Presidential Primary
Ballots for the Presidential Primary will be mailed out TODAY Friday, February 21. The deadline to register to vote online or by mail is Monday, March 2, but voters can register in person anytime before 8:00 p.m on Election Day on Tuesday, March 10.
Postdoc bargaining for higher wages!
When Postdocs won our first contract last year, we based wages on the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA) Postdoctoral Fellows scale, matching or exceeding the NIH scale for the first three years of experience. Most importantly, we agreed with the UW to reopen bargaining when the NIH updated the NRSA. This week, we learned that the NIH plans to increase wages by 4-5% to improve equity among postdocs, and we are returning to the bargaining table! 4121 members had two productive organizing meetings at the Seattle campus and SLU campus last week. Please email uaw4121@uaw4121.org if you want to learn how to help improve wages and increase equity for UW Postdocs. Be ready for new bargaining surveys and actions soon!
In solidarity,
UAW 4121 Joint Council
Tina Angerer
Douglas Avella-Castro
Leandro Casiraghi
Monica Cortés Viharo
Meg Drouhard
Max Friedfeld
Vern Harner
Dan Hart
Sam Kastner
Kyle Kubler
Kristin McCowan
Emily Myers
Anzela Niraula
Jacob O’Connor
Nayon Park
Marissa Parker
David Parsons
Cristian Proistosescu
Shua Sanchez
Paige Sechrest
Solmaz Shakerifard
Sam Sumpter
Judy Twedt
Jon Witt |
