Postdocs: Our Contract is Ratified!! // Housing justice action conference

Our new contract has been ratified! 

Our new contract has been ratified by members! This week, by a 410-6 majority, members overwhelmingly voted to adopt the new contract, which will now go into effect. This new contract (pdf summary) makes substantial improvements to our current contract, including increased financial support for Postdoc caregivers, a new health insurance stipend for paid-direct Postdocs to mitigate healthcare disparities among Postdocs, and adopting the new 2021 NIH NRSA Postdoc payscale for new appointments/reappointments and anniversary dates starting on July 1st. These important wins for Postdocs at UW are the direct result of sustained organizing efforts across campus by our community. We thank every member for contributing a voice, from signing the initial bargaining demands to voting on contract ratification. UW works because we do!

Cross-Local Housing Justice Conference

What: Housing justice action conference cohosted by UAW 2865, UAW 4121, UAW 4123, and UAW 5810
When: March 10 from 5-6:30pm
How to join: RSVP here!

ASEs and Postdocs are overwhelmingly rent burdened: meaning we pay over 30% and often over 50% of our wages in rent. We’re not the only group of workers to suffer from the housing affordability crisis, and the Puget Sound is not the only region where this is a major problem.
Skyrocketing housing costs are rooted in actions by powerful landlords, and this includes Universities in major cities. Recently our Housing Justice Working Group has been having conversations with other unionized academic workers in California about how we can organize together for housing justice by pressuring major landlords — including Universities — to take responsibility for their role in driving up housing costs.  

Join this growing coalition on March 10 at 5:00 p.m. for a meeting to identify big ideas for doing this work and to start developing action plans with other UAW members from California. It’s important that this conversation include a representative group from every city who experience the housing problem in different ways. RSVP here to receive the Zoom information, and email housing-justice@uaw4121.org if you have any questions.