Local 4121 Announcements
UW hasn’t reimbursed visa fees yet; sign this letter
All Postdocs who paid J1 or OPT-I visa fees, please submit your receipts for reimbursement. The Postdoc collective bargaining agreement clearly states that these fees shall be reimbursed; to date, UW has provided no visa fee reimbursements. Members are meeting with UW management on Wednesday, January 23rd to ensure they honor the contract.
All members (Postdocs, RSEs, and ASEs) are encouraged to add your name to this letter to help ensure our colleagues secure their reimbursements After you’ve signed, please share this information with any postdocs that you know.
Seeking members to serve on the 4121 Elections Committee
There are currently several open seats on the UAW 4121 Elections Committee. If you are interested in making sure our local has smoothly run elections, please consider serving on the Elections Committee. The committee has seven seats and one alternate; time commitment is several hours concentrated around a few times per year. You can accept your nomination by emailing elections@uaw4121.org by 5pm Thursday, 01/11/24, or accepting your nomination at the membership meeting on 1/11 at 5pm.
Academic Student Employees – Last chance to sign on to Initial Bargaining Demands
Through the bargaining survey, area meetings, organizing committees, and 1-1 conversations, ASEs made it clear what we want to see changed and where we want to focus our energy during bargaining. All of us ASEs signing on to these demands communicates to UW Admin that they need to take our negotiations seriously. This is the final week to sign on, please sign here.
Postdocs and Research Scientists, you can support by asking the ASEs around you whether they’ve signed on yet!
Research Scientists – New overtime exempt salary threshold
As of January 1, 2024, there is a new salary threshold ($67,724.80 a year) for overtime exempt workers. If you are experiencing any issues with hours tracking/overtime approval, please reach out. Also, if your department has a policy regarding overtime hours, please forward a copy to the to uaw4121@uaw4121.
Postdoc Scholars Pay Increase – Check Your Paycheck
The minimum salary for Postdoctoral Scholars increased by 4.5% to $68,460 on January 1. All Postdoc Scholars should get this increase if you were not already paid above that level. This also means that full-time Postdocs are still overtime exempt and do not need to track their hours worked. If you are a Postdoctoral Scholar and do not get this pay increase (it will show up on your 1/25 paycheck), or if you were recently moved into an overtime-nonexempt (hours-tracking) role, please reach out to uaw4121@uaw4121.org
Upcoming Local 4121 Meetings, Events, Trainings
January Membership Meeting
Our monthly membership meetings are the 2nd Thursday of the month at 5pm. Our next meeting is January 11th (today!) at 5pm on Zoom. Please RSVP here. All members in good standing are encouraged to attend. At this meeting we’ll cover:
- Welcome & Norms
- Approvals
- Elections Committee Elections
- Solidarity & Mobilization WG
- Contract Enforcement WG mini training
- Organizing updates & Discussion
- Solidarity Asks
- WSU ASEs gearing up for potential strike
- Homegrown Workers
Any member who would like to propose additional agenda items or submit materials for the meeting is welcome to email uaw4121@uaw4121.org by 5pm on Wednesday, January 10th. For more information about how the meeting will be structured and how you can use Zoom’s features to participate, check out this page on our website.
Bargaining 101
Members of the ASE Bargaining Committee will be hosting one hour Bargaining 101 sessions in January! If you’re looking for a place to find out more and ask questions, RSVP to attend the next session on Jan 26th at 3pm!
Organizing 101 Training
Our union is made up of members and it is only through organizing our colleagues that we can build a strong community of colleagues to win and enforce strong contracts. Increasing our organizing power is critical since ASEs are back at the bargaining table in the beginning of 2024.
If you are someone who talks with your colleagues about department or university happenings, then good news, you are already doing the work of organizing! Please join an upcoming Organizing 101 training in January to enhance your skills or learn how to get started.
RSVP HERE to attend a training with colleagues from across the ASE, Postdoc, and RSE units! There are several sessions scheduled for January and February.
Beyond UW
In higher ed, here are the updates from this week:
- WSU CASE (Coalition of Academic Student Employees), our fellow UAW siblings, has a strike deadline coming up on January 17th. After more than a year of bargaining for their first contract, they are still far apart from WSU administration in areas that include wages, health care coverage, leaves and more. WSU Admin’s failure to bargain over recent changes to the student health insurance plan has resulted in an Unfair Labor Practice charge. They could use some solidarity with picket line shifts. Two of their campus locations are in particular need of support, the Puyallup (~ 1.5 hours south) and Mount Vernon (~ 1.25 hours north) locations are relatively small extension centers near to the Seattle metro area. Please support our union siblings and sign up for a picket shift. Also, be on the lookout for a post on 4121 Slack to coordinate carpools.
Fur-One-Two-One Pet of the Week
This is Lemon. Lemon is a half-corgi, half-godzilla mix. When she isn’t harassing dogs three times her size, she can be found walking around Bothell. She is usually accompanied by Alan Sneegas, an Electrical Engineering senior who also organizes with his fellow ASEs in UAW.
(If you’d like to submit your pet to be featured, please email comms@uaw4121.org)