In this update:
- UC thinks they can wait us out; show up Monday and prove them wrong!
- Bargaining update
Because of last week’s massive turnout, Academic Student Employees, Academic Researchers, Postdocs and Student Researchers all made real progress at the bargaining table. But the Bargaining Teams still remain apart from UC on a number of core issues including fair compensation, support for international scholars, job security and more. UCOP’s behavior continues to display a remarkable lack of leadership: delays at the table, internal conflict, and a total unwillingness to simply take responsibility for offering their workers decent living conditions.
As Academic Workers begin the second week of our historic unfair labor practice strike, we must increase the incredible unity and collective power that we showed last week. Make sure to join the picket line for one or even two shifts on Monday!
Bargaining Update
Student Researchers
Student Researchers made significant progress at the table over the weekend, including reaching Tentative Agreements on Appointment Notification and Immigration. The Appointment Notification article will ensure that the standard appointment for Student Researchers will be 12 months in length including summer. The article also helps protect against the University appointing GSRs at reduced appointment percentages to circumvent wage increases and other contractual benefits. On Immigration, Student Researchers now have clear and strong protections when work authorization is threatened by legal changes to immigration laws.
Additionally, today, UC requested an off-the-record conversation to ask questions about the concepts that we proposed this past week as part of our wage proposal. This was a productive conversation in which we reiterated our positions, and we hope that this results in UC responding with an actual proposal very soon. The key concepts in our wage proposal are:
- A 54k base wage for graduate workers
- An experience-based equitable step scale
- High base step for all SRs with raises between steps tied to cost of living
- Like other academic jobs, SRs should be paid more with more experience
- Raises on all our pay to ensure a cost of living adjustment
- We should receive raises on all compensation – including “student support” money of bonuses/top-offs/fellowships
- This would eliminate loopholes for UC to underpay SRs and stop many SRs from receiving wage increases
- Annual raises that reflect rent increases
- All SRs should receive annual % increases that address rent increases across the state.
Academic Researchers
Academic Researchers made significant progress this weekend: tentative agreements were reached on 5 articles that ensure that all Academic Researchers are eligible for PI status, improve job security for Academic Researchers up to the first merit review, and that facilitate progression from Junior to Assistant Specialist.
Postdocs
The University made a conceptual proposal on appointments that indicated they are open to longer appointments, which has been a major goal of Postdocs for a long time. We discussed this extensively as a bargaining team and made a conceptual proposal in response.
Academic Student Employees
The bargaining team prepared proposals to pass to the University tomorrow regarding appointment notification and wages. Stay tuned for more updates!
Check out the awesome video below and we’ll see you on the picket line!
This is bigger than us. Bring on week II
In solidarity,
UAW 5810 Academic Researcher Bargaining Team
UAW 2865 Academic Student Employee Bargaining Team
UAW 5810 Postdoc Bargaining Team
SRU-UAW Student Researcher Bargaining Team