The ratification vote on our Tentative Agreement (TA) is open now until Friday at 7pm. Voting is open to all ASE members–find the link here if you haven’t received it in your inbox.
Our ASE bargaining team voted 12-1 to make this TA and to recommend that members vote Yes to ratify it. This agreement is the product of months of organizing by ASEs—those on the Bargaining Team, yes, but even more so, the rank-and-file department organizers who have spent this year tirelessly building our membership from a low point at the beginning of the academic year to the strong majority it is now, executing a series of powerful direct actions, and working toward strike readiness.
The raises we have all won together in this TA are the best UW ASEs have ever won—and at the same time, they still fall short of what we deserve. A contract is never everything we need. The basis of a decision to ratify, and the reason our bargaining team recommends a Yes vote now, is an assessment of power. We believe this TA reflects the peak of our power, or the best possible contract we could win at the moment when we had the most leverage to extract concessions from the employer, at the moment when the threat of further disruption was at its greatest earlier this week.
Each bargaining team member has written a detailed statement explaining their vote on the TA and their recommendation now: read them here. Additionally, members are encouraged to submit their statements here to be shared, which will be updated regularly.
Each member must make their own decision about whether to ratify this contract. A Yes vote is not an indication of complacency; it reflects a belief that this TA is the best we can win in this moment and a commitment to build from this platform to win more in the future, not just in our next negotiations, but through contract enforcement and departmental campaigns. A No vote on its own is not enough to win more; it must be a decision about a strategy to win more in this moment and in these conditions.
Vote Yes on this TA now to secure our wins and build onward to more.