Upcoming Local 4121 Meetings, Events, Trainings
Summary of the December membership meeting
During last week’s membership meeting, UAW 4121 members reflected on the successes of 2023 and discussed the goals for organizing in 2024.
Also, UAW 4121 alum and current Sinai Postdoc Organizing Committee (SPOC) member, Andrea Joseph, joined to share about their fight for an equitable and sustainable future for all researchers. As of Monday, SPOC and Mount Sinai reached a historic tentative agreement on their first contract after a 12-day strike. Check out the major wins in their contract.
Organizing 101 Training
Our union is made up of members and it is only through organizing our colleagues that we can build a strong community of colleagues to win and enforce strong contracts. Increasing our organizing power is critical since ASEs are back at the bargaining table in the beginning of 2024.
If you are someone who talks with your colleagues about department or university happenings, then good news, you are already doing the work of organizing! Please join an upcoming Organizing 101 training to enhance your skills. There is one more session this month on 12/18 and several scheduled in January.
RSVP HERE to attend a training with colleagues from across the ASE, Postdoc, and RSE units!
Local 4121 Announcements
Academic Student Employees – Initial Bargaining Demands Launched
Through the bargaining survey, area meetings, organizing committees, and 1-1 conversations, ASEs made it clear what we want to see changed and where we want to focus our energy during bargaining. To let UW Admin know that they should take our negotiations seriously, all ASEs need to sign on to the IBDs! UW Admin needs to know that we stand together in support of these demands and are ready to fight for the contract we deserve.
Postdocs and Research Scientists, you can support by asking the ASEs around you whether they’ve signed on yet!
Slack
Reminder that we have a Slack workspace for all 4121 members! You can join by filling out this form.
International Solidarity Work Group
UW agreed to reimburse visa fees for Postdocs as part of their new contract six months ago– however, to date, nobody has been reimbursed. UW’s failure to reimburse these fees has resulted in extra financial burden to international postdocs. All members (Postdoc, RSE and ASE), please sign on to this letter to demand that UW immediately reimburse these fees! Also, please be sure to share this with any postdoc colleagues who hold a visa.
Beyond UW
In higher ed, there are some big updates from this week:
- An NIH Advisory Group released recommendations to increase postdoc salaries to $70,000.
- Academic Student Employees at WSU have set a strike deadline of January 17.
- Operational Student Employees at Western Washington University filed for union recognition last week!
Fur-One-Two-One Pet of the Week
 |
| This is Fletcher. She also answers to “Princess”, “The Weasel”, and “Princess Weasel”. Her twin passions are murder and snacks. She has never lost an argument in her entire life. When not attending to her needs, her owner Abby Gambrill tries to make themselves helpful on our Organizing and DIDO committees.
(If you’d like to submit your pet to be featured, please email comms@uaw4121.org) |
In Solidarity,
Justin Applegate
Luci Baker
Rebecca Bluett
Brant Bowers
Francesca Colonnese
Natasha Crepeau
Iván Cruz
Pat Erickson
Brendy Fountaine
Max Friedfeld
Abby Gambrill
Connor Gettings
Soohyung Hur
Levin Kim
Peter Lindquist
Avi Matarasso
Nicel Mohamed-Hinds
Deborah Nemens
Nelson Niu
Katie Osterhage
Marissa Parker
Sarah Pristash
Mara Rafferty
Tahiyat Rahman
Anastasia Schaadhardt
Natalie Wellen
Ryan Will
Jayden Wood
Tricia Wu
Yuying Xie
Candice Young