Membership Meeting Thurs 12/10 at 5pm
As a reminder, our next membership meeting will be tomorrow, Thursday 12/10 from 5-6pm via Zoom. To access the link and/or call-in number, please fill out this short form. All members in good standing are encouraged to attend, and anyone who is not yet a member can sign up here beforehand. Everyone is encouraged to login five minutes earlier to help expedite the check-in process. The proposed agenda for the meeting is as follows:
- Approve Agenda
- Approve Minutes
- Postdoc bargaining
- Academic Student Employee bargaining
- Resolution on equity and anti-discrimination in union work
- Upcoming actions – Phonebanking for Georgia Senate runoffs, Kshama Solidarity Campaign
- Adjourn
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. If you have any specific concerns or accessibility needs, please don’t hesitate to reach out at uaw4121@uaw4121.org.
ASEs: Bargaining Survey Closes Friday
As we get ready to bargaining a new Academic Student Employee contract this year, it’s critical that every ASE participate in the bargaining survey. To build a clear, representative mandate for members’ collective priorities in our next contract, our ASE Organizing Committee has set a goal of turning out a majority of all ASEs to participate in the bargaining survey by Friday. We are over 75% of the way to that goal, but will only be able to reach it by connecting with at least 400 more members in the next few days. This is only going to be possible through strong collective member-to-member contacts across UW.
There are two key things every member can do to help this week:
- Take the survey: If you haven’t already, take five minutes now to fill out the bargaining survey! Your participation is critical for ensuring your priorities are reflected in the bargaining agenda when we begin negotiations next quarter.
- Connect with other members: It will take a ton of member-to-member contact across campus to reach the kind of high participation we all need to start bargaining off strong. Reminders are far more effective when they come from a fellow member that someone knows, which means your participation is vital to this effort. Please sign up for 1-2 hours of bargaining survey phone- and text-banking here. All the materials you need will be provided (call/text list, a script, short training), so don’t worry if this is your first time getting active in your union!
Postdocs: Bargaining Meeting Reminder
Are you interested in learning more about the status of bargaining and getting connected with other Postdocs across campus? Please join a bargaining update meeting on Monday, December 14th at 4:30pm. RSVP here for zoom details.
Kshama Solidarity Campaign: Sign on in Support!
Please take 30 seconds to sign on right now in support of the Kshama Solidarity Campaign! The right wing and big business are trying to remove Councilmember Kshama Sawant from office because of her track record of standing with movements like Black Lives Matter and the victories she’s helped win like the Amazon Tax. As the petition states, Kshama has walked countless picket lines, stood with workers organizing into unions, and even gone to jail to defend the rights of workers.
It’s critical to get strong participation from UAW 4121 members on the petition to show that the labor movement has her back. Sign and share the petition in your networks and on your social media to help build the campaign: tinyurl.com/labor4kshama. You can also help by joining a phonebank with the campaign this Sunday at 3PM.
International Solidarity Workgroup – Working Abroad
The Graduate School sent out an email last week with important updates on working abroad this upcoming winter quarter. As there is no official guidance for the spring quarter yet, individual departments should not be issuing any guidelines since it may not reflect official UW policy. Please reach out to the International Solidarity Workgroup at intl-workgroup@uaw4121.org if you have received any conflicting information from your department or your advisor.
Seattle City Solidarity Budget – Participatory Budgeting
As part of the Solidarity Budget Coalition, we recently won Participatory Budgeting in the Seattle City budget process! Next year, at least $30 million will be allocated through a community-led process.
If you’re interested in participating in one of the biggest wins of the 2021 Solidarity Budget, please take this survey from the Black Brilliance Research Project now: http://bit.ly/tellusaboutpb by this FRIDAY 12/11. This community needs assessment survey is open to anyone who lives, works, goes to school, worships, receives services, volunteers, or participates in activities in Seattle. It will be used to recruit people for follow-up conversations to refine Seattle’s 2021 Participatory Budgeting Process. You can also watch this short video about what participatory budgeting is and how it works.
Help with Georgia Senate Runoff Elections
As our Election Response Workgroup continues developing opportunities for taking political action following last month’s election, one way for every member to help build towards a progressive national political program is by getting involved in the Georgia Senate runoff races. Working people desperately need relief and support as we face yet another spike in COVID cases, but so far proposals to help everyday people are stalled in the Senate. Join UAW members from across our region to turn out voters in Georgia and help flip the Senate! Sign up here for information and opportunities to get involved.
Washington Contact Tracing App
Washington state has launched a digital exposure notification application, WA Notify, to help with contact tracing efforts. The application is available to Apple and Android smartphone users. In addition, UW researchers just shared results of a longitudinal study of public opinion regarding contact tracing and privacy. UW is still enrolling participants in the Husky Coronavirus Testing Program. The program, powered by the Seattle Flu Study, is offering in-person and at home coronavirus testing.
In Solidarity,
Douglas Avella-Castro
Leandro Casiraghi
Amanda Clouser
Max Friedfeld
Kaelie Giffel
Vern Harner
Dan Hart
Colleen Hoffman
Amzi Jeffs
Levin Kim
Kyle Kubler
Kristin McCowan
Erin Morgan
Emily Myers
Anzela Niraula
Jacob O’Connor
Elena Pandres
Nayon Park
Marissa Parker
David Parsons
Shua Sanchez
Paige Sechrest
Solmaz Shakerifard
Sam Sumpter
Samantha Thompson
Judy Twedt
Momona Yamagami
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