We were at the table with management again on May 19th. The only article UW Management presented was their counter-proposal for Article 10: Grievance Procedure, which provides us a way to enforce our union contract. They effectively proposed to make the grievance process longer and more complicated for our members who, by the very nature of the grievance process, need support and relief, and need it quickly. They did not accept any of our proposed changes to make the grievance timeline better for UW researchers.
We agreed to reach a Tentative Agreement (TA) on Article 13: Hiring, Promotion, and Transfers, and presented a brief counterproposal on Article 39: Union Rights. The majority of edits to these articles center around terminology changes. Our Union Rights article guarantees our union has the necessary information on our members for contract implementation, enforcement, and education on our rights. We insist that UW management’s obligation to provide the Union with member information that they already agreed to doesn’t go away just because they failed to build appropriate systems in the first place.
Our main focus right now, however, is ensuring we are building the collective power we need to win on the issues that are the highest priority for most members – compensation, overtime, caregiving, and other critical aspects of the high cost-of-living where we live and work. We’re holding an Affordability Forum on May 27 from 6-7 PM Pacific, and we want every voice in the room.
RSVP to the Affordability Forum!
Our union siblings have won strong contracts with strong wage increases this year by organizing massive member actions! Check out the contract highlights from our colleagues at the University of California staff union and the NYU Contract Faculty union.
One of the simplest ways to build power to win the contract we deserve is to sign up as a member. Already a member? Invite 3 of your colleagues to sign up, too!
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Team
Gabriel Beuchat
Iván Cruz
Tess Grover
KeliAnne Hara-Hubbard
Evan Howard
Jessamy Johnson
Lucas O’Bryan
N. Shane Patrick
Gracy Shaw