Over 500 Members at Board of Regents Meeting!
On Thursday, more than 500 members & supporters turned out for a powerful action at the UW Board of Regents meeting, filling the Zoom room capacity as we demand a better contract offer from admin. In addition, over 100 union members delivered powerful written and spoken public comments:
- “We need to be able to afford to live in this city if we are to continue to do the essential research that makes this University work and that society relies upon to develop new therapies. We need for the opportunity to do this work and receive this education to be open to everyone, not just the independently wealthy. We need management to recognize this by offering us a contract that meets our proposals.” – Jacob O’Connor (Biochem)
- “Many hourly ASEs make $1300 per month or less, barely more than the average cost to live in university housing. Without the lump sum or equivalent wage increase, high fees will only continue to disproportionately impact underrepresented ASEs.” – Levin Kim (iSchool)
- See more comments from members here!
Bargaining Straw Poll Results
Thank you to the 1009 members who participated in the straw poll that closed on 5/13. The poll results show that many respondents are willing to accept the current offer (option 1), but it’s also clear that many respondents want to continue fighting for more (options 2, 3, and 4). These results — combined with the turnout and energy at the Board of Regents action, the rally on 4/26, area meetings, membership meetings, and more — demonstrate that many members believe our mobilization efforts are moving us in the right direction, and are still invested in fighting to improve the last, best, and final offer, particularly for the most vulnerable and those who are making the least.
Building off of these results, as we approach our next bargaining session on Tuesday 5/18 from 9am-4pm, we will continue to negotiate with admin to improve the current offer, including on lump sum or equivalent. We will also discuss counter-proposals and next actions at our organizing committee meeting on Monday 5/17 from 10-11am.
The straw poll was an approval poll, which means that respondents were able to select multiple options they would accept.
- Option 1: Accept the current last, best, and final offer
- Option 2: Fight for an improvement to the last, best, and final offer
- Option 3: Reject the last, best, and final offer and fight for a 1-year contract
- Option 4: Reject the last, best, and final offer and fight for a different 3-year contract
All members are welcome and encouraged to join bargaining on 5/18 and the organizing committee meeting on 5/17. To learn more about the bargaining process and get involved, please join our union’s bargaining Slack by filling out this form, and email ase-bargaining-team@uaw4121.org if you have any trouble accessing Slack. If you’d like to see the full anonymous poll results or have questions about them, please email bargaining team (ase-bargaining-team@uaw4121.org) or start a discussion on our Slack.
In Solidarity,
UAW 4121 ASE Bargaining Committee
Douglas Avella
Vern Harner
Amzi Jeffs
Levin Kim
Kyle Kubler
Jacob O’Connor
Nayon Park
Marissa Parker
Solmaz Shakerifard
Samantha Thompson
Momona Yamagami
