Thursday, October 11, 2019
Dear Colleague,
Pay Raises
Postdocs’ negotiated increases to the minimum pay scale are scheduled to be issued on October 10th paychecks. Please take a minute to verify that your pay information is accurate. You can review the terms of these wage increases on page six of our contract summary: all Postdocs’ wages must be increased to the appropriate experience based minimum, retroactive to August 1st. Some Senior Fellows will receive an extra one-time wage adjustment of 2%, retroactive to September 1st, as described on page seven of the contract summary. Additionally, we don’t expect that all refunds for U-PASS charges made after July 1st will be issued yet, but pursuant to our grievance, UW has communicated those will be issued in the coming weeks.
If you encounter a problem such as you did not receive your wage increase, please fill out this form so our Postdoc bargaining and contract enforcement committees can provide support. To help us investigate, please upload your 10/10/19 payslip through the form (this will be kept confidential) and someone will follow up to advise and work with you to figure out next steps.
Upcoming Organizing
At our last general meeting, dozens of Postdocs convened to strategize upcoming contract negotiations. We discussed the best ways to keep our departments fully informed and engaged. We will continue these organizing discussions weekly, every Wednesday at 5pm. Additionally, we will host another general meeting this fall, along with area meetings in multiple departments. Be on the lookout for emails from your colleagues about scheduling an area meeting. If you want to attend the weekly organizing meeting and/or host an area meeting within your department, email us at uaw4121@uaw4121.org.
Lastly, we can now sign up online to become union members. Effective enforcement of our contract depends on all Postdocs becoming members and participating.
Support other Campus Workers
Last week, unionized UW Medical Residents and Interns took an unprecedented step to walk out of their shifts for a 15 minute unity break to protest the University administration’s approach to contract negotiations.
UW has made an initial offer to Residents of a 1% raise the first two years and 0% for the third year, declined to offer a fully subsidized U-PASS and proposed taking away bike incentive programs. Despite bargaining for months, UW has not even responded to many of the Residents’ proposals. Members of our union and others on campus, as well as Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, showed up in support. Together, Postdocs, Residents, ASEs and thousands of other unionized campus workers are all confronting the University’s repeated attempts to stall and delay bargaining and implement austerity measures.
Please sign up for membership and get involved to help create better conditions for all of us who make UW work.
In solidarity,
The UW Postdocs United / UAW 4121 Bargaining Committee:
Tina Angerer, Bioengineering
Leandro Casiraghi, Biology
Matthew Crane, Chemistry
Ivan Cruz, Biological Structure
Marina Dütsch, Earth and Space Sciences
Max Friedfeld, Chemistry
Hannah Horowitz, Atmospheric Sciences
Ajay Jajodia, Medical Genetics
Andrew Jenkins, Chemistry
Jiae Lee, Biochemistry
Michael Mack, Chemistry
Kim Meier, Psychology
Cristi Proistosescu, Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean
Michael Taylor, Bioengineering
Jian Wang, Chemistry