Yesterday, we had our second bargaining session with UC. There is still a clear divide between our two sides: Our team wants bargaining ground rules that are clear, concise, and practical to facilitate the bargaining process, while UC’s team wants to delay the bargaining process by focusing on lengthy and tedious discussions of ground rules that would be unenforceable and limit wide participation by all our members. While we have not come to a definitive agreement, we are making strides in accessibility — UC agreed to implement closed-captioning availability and to make bargaining open to all Postdocs.
UC presented us with 3 proposals, including
- A Parking and Transportation proposal that attempts to roll back a major arbitration victory won by our union on parking fee caps at UCSF by trying to shift even more parking costs onto Postdocs and increase rates by up to 35%(!)
- A Proposal that adds Juneteenth as a paid holiday (which was already implemented by UC for all employees last month, so this doesn’t represent a new benefit).
- A proposal to agree to current contract language on 13 contract articles.
We were surprised that UC would lead its proposals with an attempt to dramatically increase parking rates and reverse a recent union win. Do better, UC. The next bargaining session will be on either July 30 or August 2, where we hope to solidify ground rules and move on to substantive demands that would make important improvements to our working conditions. You can find the most up-to-date information on proposals by UC and by UAW 5810 here.
Get involved! Do you want to understand the basics of bargaining a contract and learn how to strengthen your benefits and protections? UAW is hosting a Summer Organizing Summer School held over 4 weeks to encourage others to organize and mobilize our co-workers to win ambitious demands in upcoming contract negotiations. RSVP to attend one or all sessions here.
To keep up with bargaining in real-time, follow us on twitter @UAW5810!
In solidarity,
UAW 5810 Postdoc Bargaining Team and Alternates
Sarah Arveson, UC Berkeley
Gilbert Bernstein, UC Berkeley
Chris Hart, UC Davis
Adam Schneider, UC Irvine
Zachary Zeidler, UCLA
Lejla Medzikovic, UCLA
Brad Barker, UC Merced
Ingrid Padilla Espinosa, UC Merced
Tyler Bell, UC San Diego
Adam Caparco, UC San Diego
Jade Moore, UCSF
Putu Ustriyana, UCSF
Caitlin Taylor, UC Santa Barbara
Heda Agic, UC Santa Barbara
Jacob Porter, UC Santa Cruz
Jasmeet Dhaliwal, UC Santa Cruz