Wednesday, May 29, 2019
Dear Colleague,
Today is a critical bargaining session to reach a final contract. Yesterday, we convened a general meeting with nearly a hundred Postdocs in attendance to celebrate the articles of the contract we have tentatively agreed on.
Postdocs taking part in yesterday’s meeting.
We also discussed the remaining four articles of our contract that have yet to be settled: wages and compensation for raise denials, healthcare for Postdocs on direct pay fellowships, childcare subsidies for Postdoc parents, and the expiration date of our contract.
Postdocs were extremely frustrated by the administration’s:
- Inability to recognize the high cost of living in Seattle and the lack of a mechanism to pay back wages, which administration froze.
- Refusal to provide healthcare to Postdocs with independent funding through external grants and fellowships.
- Failure to provide a proposal with reasonable childcare support.
- Disappointing contract duration that prevents us from bargaining in solidarity with Academic Student Employees when their contract expires.
Nonetheless everyone present was resolved to continue to push for a fair settlement or (if agreement with the University was not possible) continue to take action until we have won a fair contract.
We will be in touch soon with news about our contract – or the actions we must take to achieve an equitable contract.
In solidarity,
The UW Postdocs United / UAW 4121 Bargaining Committee
Tina Angerer, Bioengineering
Pamela Baker, Biological Structure
Leandro Casiraghi, Biology
Matthew Crane, Chemistry
Ivan Cruz, Biological Structure
Marina Dütsch, Earth and Space Sciences
Max Friedfeld, Chemistry
Kelly Hines, Medicinal Chemistry
Hannah Horowitz, Atmospheric Sciences
Ajay Jajodia, Medical Genetics
Andrew Jenkins, Chemistry
Michael Mack, Chemistry
Kim Meier, Psychology
Kelly Patton, Physics
Cristi Proistosescu, Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean
Abdul Basit Shaikh, Pharmaceutics
Michael Taylor, Bioengineering
Jian Wang, Chemistry
Alex White, Psychology
Huajun Xu, Chemistry