June 14, 2023
As you saw from the email in the middle of the night last night, RSEs reached a tentative agreement on the remaining articles of our contract (An overview of these remaining articles is at the bottom of this email). Postdocs are back at the bargaining table right now.
Here is the critical information and action items from this morning’s brief meeting:
- We are all still on strike — please continue reporting to your picket shifts.
- We have two decisions to make: (1) collectively determining when we choose to end the strike and (2) a ratification vote on the RSE contract
- For (1), please discuss with your colleagues and complete this straw poll by 5pm today.
- At tonight’s 5pm meeting we will be making a collective decision about how long the strike continues. (RSVP for the 5pm zoom link here). We will also be outlining details of the ratification process.
- For (2), we are compiling an overview of the tentatively agreed upon RSE contract articles and will be sharing as soon as possible
Tentative Agreements from last night’s bargaining session
Research Scientist/Engineers bargaining ran late into the night and we reached tentative agreements (TAs) with management on all remaining contract articles! This includes Compensation. The TA of our Compensation article includes:
-A 3.25% salary increase for anyone who did not receive a permanent raise between April 2022 and September 2023.
-Across the board increases for all Research Scientists:
- Year 1: 4%
- Year 2: 3.5%
- Year 3: 4.5% (split into 3.5% on November 1 2025 and 1% six months later).
-Increases to the salary range minimum of all job titles.
- For RSE-As and RSE-1s, Year 1: 6%, Year 2: 10%, and Year 3: 10%.
- For RSE-2, 3, and 4, Year 1: 4%, Year 2: 11%, and Year 3: 11%.
In order to reach a tentative agreement, we made the difficult decision to drop our childcare proposal. We reached agreement on an EPIC Memorandum of Understanding that supports a total of four .2 FTE trainers that can be filled by either Research Scientists/Engineers or Postdoctoral Scholars.
Attend/respond
Again, while we are thrilled to have completed this round of negotiations, a TA’d contract does not necessarily mean coming off the picket line. We will make a collective decision about when to stop the strike at the 5pm meeting this evening. (RSVP for the 5pm zoom link here.) If you didn’t already, please respond to this straw poll by 5pm tonight
Please reach out with your questions. We will be compiling and responding as quickly as we can.
In solidarity,
UWRU/UAW Bargaining Committee
Thaddeus Armstrong
Nick Bolten
Jai Broome
Erin Carll
Morgan Crotta
Iván Cruz
Abby Gambrill
Jay Mas Gilvydis
Anya Kalata
Julia Kobelt
Katherine Lasdin
Ellen MacLachlan
Katie Osterhage
Deborah Nemens
Van Redila
Annelise Smith
Galen Stewart
Jacob Tietsort
Stacey Wedlake
Ryan Will
Tricia Wu