As you may have seen, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision this morning in Janus v AFSCME, a case backed by corporate billionaires intended to weaken public sector unions, which changed the requirement that all represented employees must pay their fair share of representation costs. In other words: any ASE who has financially supported the union through “declining” membership and paying fair share fees compelled to pay such fees.
For the past several years, nearly 90% of all ASEs who have attended presentations about the union during their program orientations have accepted membership. When new employees understand their rights, and the critical importance of having a strong collective voice, they choose membership. This is particularly critical at a time when the University Administration has proposed cuts to ASE wages, health benefits, and tuition waivers; has opposed or stalled union organizing drives (including that of University of Washington Postdocs in the past year); and when the federal government has taken steps to target international students, cut funding for sciences/arts/humanities, and tax our tuition waivers.
You can help! Join other union members this afternoon from 4:30-5:40 on the 45th Street I-5 Overpass to show that we are resolved and will continue to organize and meet the challenges of anti-union attacks.
Also: in recent negotiations we improved our contract language regarding orientations to ensure that all employees – regardless of whether their department holds a specific orientation for their cohort – receive union orientation. If you’d like to help present to your co-workers about the union, and why it’s important for them to be involved, please email us at uaw4121@uaw4121.org
We’ll provide more details as they become available. Please let us know if you have questions about union membership at uaw4121@uaw4121.org.
In Solidarity,
Theresa Aliwarga
Douglas Avella-Castro
Dianne Baumann
Andrea Canini
Anthony Castanza
Monica Cortes Viharo
Meg Drouhard
Kristen Garofali
Katya Kolesova
Dylan Mayer
Mandy McCourt
Kristin McCowan
Elizabeth Mills
David Parsons
Shua Sanchez
Maddie Smith
Sam Sumpter
Arash Tarkhan
Judy Twedt