Membership Meeting Next Thursday
As a reminder, our next membership meeting will be Thursday 5/12 from 5-6pm via Zoom. To access the link and/or call-in number, please fill out this short form. Everyone is encouraged to login five minutes earlier to help expedite the check-in process. The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
- Approve agenda & minutes
- Organizing updates
- Action for Roe v Wade
- Equity Survey
- Personnel Committee – proposed bylaws amendment
- Housing Justice Working Group Takeover & tenants rights bootcamp
- Adjourn
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, May 11. All members in good standing are encouraged to attend, and anyone who is not yet a member can sign up here beforehand. 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.
Participate in the 2022 Equity Survey
This year’s Equity Survey has launched! Thanks to our collective action, this annual survey is used to advance work to address members’ experiences around discrimination, department culture, mentorship, & more across campus. Add your voice today and, once you’ve participated, be sure to fill out your info here to be removed from reminders. The results from prior years’ surveys are available on our website.
ASEs at WSU File for Union Recognition!
 
Huge news! Yesterday, a majority of the 1600 Academic Student Employees at Washington State University filed a representation petition with the state labor board (PERC) to have their union, WSU-CASE, recognized. ASEs rallied across WSU campuses and extension centers to deliver their union petition and a statement to WSU Administration, in an amazing show of solidarity to celebrate this historic milestone.
WSU is currently the only major public research institution on the West Coast where ASEs aren’t unionized. Like academic workers here at UW, WSU ASEs struggle to make ends meet while pursuing their PhDs and making their way through the higher education career pipeline. Without a union, they’ve experienced much worse conditions over time — for instance, their wages have only increased 5.4% in the last seven years. ASEs are organizing to form a union with UAW to have a say in their working conditions, address toxic work environments, and secure improved benefits and protections. In joining the growing movement to unionize in higher education, they’re seeking not only to improve their own conditions but help change the national landscape.
Congratulations to WSU ASEs! For more updates, you can follow the campaign on twitter, facebook, and instagram.
Take Action for Reproductive Rights
On Tuesday, UAW 4121 members joined with thousands of others in Seattle for a powerful rally and march in defense of reproductive rights. While the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade is not yet finalized, it poses a far-reaching attack on abortion rights for people of all genders in the US — the latest in a wave of attacks on reproductive rights and the rights of trans and queer youth across the country. In particular, this would disproportionately impact abortion access for those who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, or low-income.
As part of the labor movement, we can and should play an active role in organizing to defend and expand reproductive rights. Building the kind of power we need will require joining with our broader communities to take mass collective action, and there will be a number of ways you can participate in the coming weeks. As many details are still coming together, RSVP here to receive more information and get connected with fellow 4121 members. In the meantime, save the date for the following actions, and if you can, consider making a donation to the Northwest Abortion Access Fund.
- Friday 5/13: Student & community walkouts and rallies
- Saturday 5/14: Planned Parenthood day of action
- Monday 5/16: Public strategy meeting with Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s office
If you’re interested in getting involved in this work on an ongoing basis, join the first meeting of the newly-formed Solidarity & Mobilization Committee, Monday 5/9 from 11am-12pm via Zoom. Email solidarity@uaw4121.org for more info and to join. Even if you can’t make it on Monday, send an email to get looped in for future meetings!
Northwest Detention Center Solidarity Day
Please join fellow UAW 4121 members for a Solidarity Day with La Resistenica on Saturday, May 21 from 1-3pm at the Tacoma Northwest Detention Center. You can RSVP here, as well as indicate if you need a ride or can help drive others. The Northwest Detention Center has been a site of many egregious human rights violations and immigrant detainees should be set free. Solidarity Days have three main purposes:
- To raise awareness of the issues of immigrant detention by spotlighting the voices of affected community members, and to create a broad base to mobilize for specific calls to action.
- To provide moral support for detainees inside the center and to remind them that they are not alone!
- To increase donations for La Resistencia which are used for detainee commissary funds, paying La Resistencia organizers, and providing bail funds when appropriate.
Even if you can’t make it down to Tacoma, you can still participate! There are several calls to action on the google form, so take a couple minutes to sign the petition or make a donation. If you’re interested in helping plan the action, please get in touch by emailing uaw4121@uaw4121.org to get connected with members of the International Solidarity and Anti-Discrimination Working Groups who are coordinating the event.
Register for the Organizing 4 Power (O4P) Trainings by May 6th!
Members from organizations that are a part of Higher Ed Labor United (HELU) are invited to be a part of a cohort for the Organizing for Power: the Core Fundamentals with Jane McAlevey. This training takes place on 6 consecutive Tuesdays from May 10th to June 14th at 8pm ET/5p PT. This full-length O4P training will focus on the five core organizing fundamentals: leader identification, semantics, structured organizing conversations, charting, and structure tests. These essential skills serve as the building blocks of all winning campaigns. Register here by Friday, May 6th!
House Our Neighbors! Signature Gathering
It’s all hands on deck! There will be weekly signature gathering canvasses for the House our Neighbors initiative on Saturdays across Seattle. This Saturday, meet up at 10am at Cal Anderson Park (Denny Way and 10th Ave entrance at North end of the park). The canvass will kick off with a rally and will then head out in teams to collect signatures across the city. Celebrate at the end with pizza! Come out to help reach the goal of 5,000 signatures for the weekend and be in community with others. Sign up here so organizers know how many folks to expect. All volunteers are encouraged to bring 3 friends!
Palestinian Cultural Resistance & Solidarity Festival
Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER) UW and SeattleU Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) are holding a Palestinian Cultural Festival on May 7th at the UW Intellectual House 3-6pm. The festival will include music, art, and poetry shared by luminaries from across Palestinian arts and culture. Dinner is included with ticket and will be served by local Palestinian restaurant Gyro & More. Masks are required. Donations are strongly encouraged! Proceeds go to SUPER UW and SeattleU SJP to cover the cost of the event and to our orgs so we can continue to put on events like this. Suggested donation of $15 (Venmo @super_uw or Paypal at paypal.me/superuw).
EPIC is Hiring – Postdoc Positions Available!
Empowering Prevention and Inclusive Communities (EPIC) is hiring for two Postdoc Training Specialist Positions! Postdoc Training Specialists focus on working with the UW Postdoctoral Scholar community and will build on the EPIC program that was originally developed in 2018-2019. The Training Specialist role is between a 20-40% FTE position. You can apply on UW Hires (UW Requisition #204931).
The EPIC program is an innovative peer-to-peer harassment prevention training program jointly run between our union and the university, and is a major win from recent ASE and Postdoc contract campaigns. Training Specialists will have the opportunity to work with a team to develop, implement, and evaluate the EPIC program, which includes information regarding sexual harassment, discrimination, intersectional power dynamics, bystander intervention strategies, response options, UW policies and procedures, and union rights. If you have questions, reach out to any of the current training specialists at epicprogram@uw.edu.
Covid Resource Round-Up
In Solidarity,
UAW 4121 Joint Council
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