At Friday’s Union meeting, members voted unanimously to recommend rejection of UW’s proposed settlement agreement on implementing the award in our successful fee waiver arbitration decision and to instead take action to ensure the decision gets implemented effectively.
Nearly 100 members — from every College and School at UW – debated the pros and cons of various options. While recognizing that UW is currently offering some money as an enticement to settle instead of dragging the case into the courts, members resolved by the end of the debate that accepting their proposal would result in longer term risks to our membership. After the vote members conducted an impromptu protest action at Schmitz Hall, and delivered a letter to the University communicating our dissatisfaction with their conduct and insistence on requiring these fees without waivers. We also delivered an information request to the University’s Public Records Office, demanding to know what amount of public resources the University is spending to hire outside attorneys to fight this arbitration.
Next Steps:
- In the next few hours we will begin a membership-wide straw poll vote to allow all ASEs to participate in deciding whether to reject the University’s settlement proposal. Members will have the opportunity to vote online and on campus. Please look for an email initiating this vote soon.
- Some members have also started petitions on moveon.org: one for ASEs to sign and one for faculty to sign. Members are circulating these widely online – you can sign on here.
- On Thursday October 18th President Michael Young will be delivering his Annual State of the University address. Members are encouraged to attend.
Friday’s meeting was an inspiring show of passion and solidarity; we continue to be motivated by your willingness to do the right thing even in the face of a protracted fight and individual sacrifice. Together we’ll make UW even stronger: UW Works Because We Do.