Thursday, May 30, 2019
Dear Colleague,
We are delighted to announce that we’ve come to a tentative agreement on a historic first contract. Meet at 12 PM this Friday in HSB (room to be announced) to learn more and to discuss the ratification vote. Here are the details of the last several articles that we reached tentative agreement on today:
UWPU Bargaining Team members celebrate reaching tentative agreement!- Wages – wages will be equivalent to the NIH scale at Year 0 and then each year of experience will bring a 2% increase, putting years 0, 1, 2, and 3 at or above the NIH scale. Senior Fellows who got standard pay increases denied between October 3, 2017 and ratification will receive a 2% salary increase, resulting in a wage restitution for at least 248 Postdocs. Postdocs whose PIs wish to provide additional increases will also receive them. Lastly, we negotiated the right to re-open bargaining for this aspect of the contract if the NIH scale increases between ratification and October, 2020.
- Childcare – We’ve bargained a $30k annual pool of money to help Postdocs to pay for childcare.
- Healthcare – UW agreed to provide paid direct Postdocs with healthcare if they are determined eligible by the Washington State Healthcare Authority.
- Duration (of the contract) – Our contract will last for ~1.5 years, and our successor bargaining will take place in close proximity with the Academic Student Employees’ bargaining.
You can find the full text of these articles as well as remaining articles here, including the strongest sexual harassment and discrimination protections for any Postdocs in the country, free UPASS, mentorship programs, paid leave, and appointment security.
Our success has always been due to the solidarity and strong majority participation of Postdocs throughout campus. For example, the Action Meeting just this past Tuesday, May 28th was integral to the success of our final day of bargaining. There are dozens of other actions that made this possible, including a majority of Postdocs signing authorization cards, the occupation of President Cauce’s office demanding the right to vote, and our historic action fighting discrimination and harassment this May 8th.
We will continue organizing, because this is not the end yet! Now that the UW has tentatively agreed to provide paid direct Postdocs with health care if they become eligible we must make sure that this will actually happen (and as soon as possible). Additionally and importantly, this contract will not go into effect until Postdocs ratify it.
This Friday at 12pm in HSB (room TBD) we will host an informational session to present the merits of the contract, and discuss the next steps towards a ratification vote. Please join us for this important meeting. RSVP now.
In solidarity,
The UW Postdocs United / UAW 4121 Bargaining Committee
Tina Angerer, Bioengineering
Pamela Baker, Biological Structure
Leandro Casiraghi, Biology
Matthew Crane, Chemistry
Ivan Cruz, Biological Structure
Marina Dütsch, Earth and Space Sciences
Max Friedfeld, Chemistry
Kelly Hines, Medicinal Chemistry
Hannah Horowitz, Atmospheric Sciences
Ajay Jajodia, Medical Genetics
Andrew Jenkins, Chemistry
Michael Mack, Chemistry
Kim Meier, Psychology
Kelly Patton, Physics
Cristi Proistosescu, Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean
Abdul Basit Shaikh, Pharmaceutics
Michael Taylor, Bioengineering
Jian Wang, Chemistry
Alex White, Psychology
Huajun Xu, Chemistry