Today Postdocs heard Admin’s second wage offer, which only marginally improved on their initial proposal. Some highlights:
- Updating a 1% / 0% / 1% raise proposal to 1% / 0.5% / 1% – only a $345/yr increase
- No improved childcare fund
- No fixes to the overtime problem
- No equity of benefits for Postdoc Fellows or Paid-Directs
When Postdocs asked if Admin’s proposal accounted for inflation at all, Admin said: “No, we have not.”
We are told these pay cuts are necessary. But UW has record returns on its endowment, billions in unallocated funds, and a budget surplus this year. They raise tens of millions of dollars for new construction, and they find the budget to give themselves raises. But for Postdocs, their pockets are empty. The reality is simple: Admin wants to cut your wages because they think they can get away with it. They have a choice, and so do we!!
This wage proposal is not only an insult that completely undervalues the work and role Postdocs play in UW’s education and research mission — it is a proposal that puts UW’s entire future at risk. While researchers fight tooth and nail to protect and invest in the PEOPLE doing the work, UW Admin’s response to federal instability is to cave and not pay Postdocs a livable wage – one that jeopardizes our faculty, their research projects, and the training of the next generation of researchers and scientists.
Postdocs deserve livable wages that account for cost of living. Postdocs’ wage proposal tracks to the Consumer Price Index and represents a livable wage as set by WA state law – this would increase the Postdoc minimum to $92,700 on Jan 1, 2027, with annual 3% raises. This is more than a fair wage demand given the expertise and level of effort that every single Postdoc brings to their daily work.
We made counter proposals on Article 4 Appointments and Reappointments and Article 14 Layoffs, which still include better job security for the first 2 years of appointment. This proposal, modeled after our University of California siblings contract, ensures Postdocs are not moving across the country and across the world with the potential to be suddenly out of a job in just 1 year. UW Admin has already pushed back on this at the bargaining table.
UW Admin only responds when workers unite and flex our collective muscles. Yesterday, nearly a hundred Postdocs, Research Staff, Academic Student Employees, and UW community allies rallied at the UW School of Medicine to deliver a demand letter to the Administration there, and we really stuck it to them – taped the demands to their windows specifically. Similar actions are happening in Colleges and Schools across campus this month.
If you haven’t already, join your union as a member. If you’re already a member, talk to your colleagues about how bargaining has been going, and bring them to an upcoming August Area Action.
In Solidarity,
Winston Dredge
Mateo Lopez Espejo
Ryan Friedman
Cassandra Henderson
Haruki Hirasawa
Gourav Khullar
Audrie Langlais-Elliott
Jenna Morris
Jake Sacks
Marsalis Smith
Natalie Wellen