48,000 UAW Academic Workers at UC—Postdocs, Academic Researchers, Academic Student Employees and Student Researchers—are all currently bargaining new union contracts. This gives us a tremendous opportunity to win transformative improvements to working conditions including:
- higher pay to match the cost of living in California,
- a more equitable workplace including strong and enforceable protections against bullying, disability justice and improved parental and family leave for all workers,
- free transit passes to address climate change,
- increased rights for international scholars.
Our ability to win these and other improvements depends on being united in our efforts to force UC to do the right thing.
Please read on for a *brief* summary of what happened in each of last week’s bargaining sessions (you can click here for more detailed info on the latest proposals for each unit). And please take a moment to RSVP here to join a crucially important mass meeting at your campus next month where we will discuss and strategize how to win fair contracts for all UC academic workers.
Academic Researchers
ARs have passed numerous proposals to preserve and expand our rights but UC administration has been focused on keeping the status quo, or rolling back what we won in our current contract. We gave UC a Bridge Funding presentation and proposal and showed how these programs are proven to produce 10 times return on investment, and encouraged UC to consider it seriously. At last Friday’s session, UC arrived unprepared and only re-passed us a proposal on Non-Discrimination that would weaken our protections from discrimination and harassment.
Academic Student Employees
At Tuesday’s session the bargaining team proposed articles on Union Access and Union Security that would improve ASE’s rights to orientations and to join their union. Click here for a longer, ASE-specific update.
Postdocs
Postdocs presented a package of non-economic proposals that included updated proposals on Leaves of Absence, Union Security and Work Authorization. Our proposals would double the number of weeks for parental care, reimburse the most common visa fees, and improve disability access. UC spent a majority of the session caucusing and (once again) had no proposals to pass.
Student Researchers
SRs presented a package with Union Security and Union Access which would enable SRs to have the right to learn about our union and become members. UC passed a package which included Health and Safety, Work-Incurred Injury and Illness, and Workload. While we are still apart on some issues in workload we saw some improvements in work-incurred injury and illness which would guarantee that an SR injured on the job would be protected and have the ability to obtain leave and pay if injured on the job.
Join Critical Mass Membership Meetings in October
The best way you can support winning a great contract is to attend the next Mass Membership Meeting in October. To RSVP for your campus meeting, visit this page. And don’t hesitate to reply to this email with any questions or about other ways to get involved in bargaining—we need everyone on board to win what we deserve!
In solidarity,
UAW 5810 Postdoc Bargaining Team
UAW 5810 Academic Researcher Bargaining Team
UAW 2865 Academic Student Employee Bargaining Team
SRU-UAW Student Researcher Bargaining Team