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ASE Contract Info & Discussion SessionsYesterday we reached tentative agreement on a three-year contract! Keep your eye out for a link to the membership-wide ratification vote that will open on Friday. To help make sure members have all the information needed to make an informed vote, all members are encouraged to join open info and discussion sessions starting this Thursday. In particular, members are encouraged to join on Thursday 5/20 at 5-6pm and/or Thursday 5/27 at 4-5pm for Info Sessions to learn about the tentative agreement, ask questions, and engage in open discussion with fellow members. RSVP here! Last week’s membership-wide straw poll vote clearly communicated that members needed to see additional movement from admin on their last/best/final proposal. Thanks to members’ active participation and organizing, we achieved that. As a package, this tentative agreement includes a total 9.27% wage increase (3% per year, which compounds annually) to hourly and salaried base rates, growing the EPIC program to three paid 50% FTE ASEs, as well as improvements we had previously won on gender affirming care, mental health, the childcare fund, and more. You can find more details here. Vacancy ElectionsNominations for vacant ASE and Postdoc Steward, Head Steward, and Defense Committee in UAW 4121 are open and will close on Sunday, May 23th, at 5:00 p.m. PDT. All members who are in good standing are automatically nominated for open positions in their department. This means that you do not have to be nominated by someone else–to run for the position, you simply have to accept your automatic nomination! Please reply to us at elections@uaw4121.org to accept nomination for one position only. You can find more information about open ASE positions here, and open Postdoc positions here. Questions? Email the Elections Committee at elections@uaw4121.org. International Solidarity Workgroup UpdatesIf there are any members who heard from their department about the summer work-abroad policy, please get in touch with us at intl-solidarity@uaw4121.org so that we know what is being communicated in the absence of a clear UW-wide policy. For non-US citizen members specifically who want to attend protests, please check out these resources on protest safety and preparation. ISW is seeking to learn about and support ongoing efforts on campus to Free Palestine and specifically join the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) Movement. If you have any experience or interest in organizing around Palestine Liberation, please get in touch with us at intl-solidarity@uaw4121.org. Abolition May: Day of Action Sunday 5/23Join fellow UW community members on Sunday 5/23 for day of action as part of Abolition May. As a part of the Coalition to Decriminalize UW, we are cosponsoring a powerful series of events. Please join (in person or virtually) and help spread the word!
This Sunday: Kshama Solidarity Campaign Doorknocking Launch!Join staff and volunteers at Pratt Park this Sunday at 10am for the Kshama Solidarity Campaign Doorknocking Launch! It is urgent that we reach out to voters in District 3 and counter the dishonest right-wing attacks of the recall campaign against Kshama, especially since the recall campaign recently made an explicit appeal for Seattle police officers to help them collect signatures in the very same neighborhoods where these officers repressed protests with tear gas and blast balls last summer. See the event link above for further info. Fire Season Mutual AidWildfires are predicted to be even worse this year than last, and houseless folks are particularly vulnerable to bad air quality, dehydration, and other issues that come with this challenging season. Mutual aid groups across the city are already raising funds and collecting supplies to prepare for summer. One way you can support your neighbors in the UDistrict is to donate or get involved with Subvert UD, a student and community-led mutual aid group. Donations to their Venmo at @UWBLM will go to supplies like water, electrolytes, respirators etc. You can also donate supplies directly at their pop-ups every Sunday from 12-2pm at the UHeights basketball court. Postdoc Task Force on Applying for PI StatusAs a postdoc, having the opportunity to apply for grants and run projects as a principal investigator is an important opportunity for professional development. Article 12.6 of our contract gave us access to apply and act as PIs and co-PIs. We are currently starting a task force to understand the approval process across different Departments and Colleges for gaining PI status on grants in hope of making this process more transparent and equitable for all postdocs on campus. We are hoping that postdocs from a broad range of departments, covering all UW Colleges, will join. Are you interested? Please reach out to postdoc.pi@uaw4121.org by June 2, 2021 to join the google group. We will reach out after June 2, 2021 to schedule our first meeting. Postdoc Childcare Fund Enrollment is now open!Postdoc caregivers: enrollment is now open for the Postdoc Childcare fund. Enroll today. The Postdoc Childcare Fund is now accepting responses for the first half of 2021. Our collective bargaining agreement provides for a caregiving fund of $45,000 in 2021 that is distributed semiannually. Funds will be distributed in June for Postdoc caregivers who worked at UW anytime from January to June 2021. If you are a Postdoc parent or caregiver, enroll today. Please reach out to the Family Friendly Workgroup with any questions or to get more involved. In Solidarity, Douglas Avella-Castro |
