Dear UAW Member,
Take a minute now to sign the petition to protect academic labor rights for ALL workers!
As you may know, Student Researchers (SRs – analogous to Research Assistants here at UW) at the University of California (UC) have been organizing to win their union, Student Researchers United-UAW. In May, they filed 11,000 union authorization cards — representing a supermajority of all SRs — with the California state labor board, as an important step towards gaining recognition and bargaining a first contract. Covering 17,000 SRs across the UC, this is the single largest new academic worker union in the history of the labor movement.
But even with that overwhelming show of support, UC administration is refusing to recognize the union and start bargaining. Late last week, UC administrators sent a letter to California’s labor board denying recognition for Student Researchers United–UAW as the Union for all UC Student Researchers, arguing that thousands of Fellows and Trainees are simply students and not employees.
UC’s refusal to recognize Student Researchers United–UAW is an attack on all of us, and could set a dangerous precedent for the academic labor movement. Their transparent attempt to divide academic workers, even those who are compensated for doing the same work in the same labs for the same supervisors, is aimed at weakening the power of the entire union.
This is unacceptable. Sign this petition telling UC that we will stick together until they respect every worker’s democratic choice to form a union and begin bargaining without delay. And check out Student Researcher Elizabeth McCarthy’s take on the injustice of UC’s argument.
We are stronger together. Add your voice to the petition and demand UC to drop their obstructionist objections, recognize the right of all Student Researchers to form a union, and sit down at the bargaining table without delay.
In Solidarity,
Douglas Avella-Castro
Amanda Clouser
Max Friedfeld
Kaelie Giffel
Vern Harner
Colleen Hoffman
Levin Kim
Brianne King
Kyle Kubler
Avi Matarasso
Erin Morgan
Emily Myers
Amal Nanavati
Anzela Niraula
Jacob O’Connor
Elena Pandres
Nayon Park
Marissa Parker
David Parsons
Shua Sanchez
Solmaz Shakerifard
Sam Sumpter
Samantha Thompson
Judy Twedt
Momona Yamagami
Christian Zimmermann
