May 31, 2022
Already Voted? Please let us know here!
Who is responsible for our free U-Pass?
On May 26th we received the exciting news that our U-Pass is now being fully subsidized as part of our RSE Benefits. This is an important step for creating more competitive packages for UW Professional Staff and for building more sustainable commuting options to campus.
The untold history is that this change resulted from a years-long campaign by UW campus unionized employees working in coalition with community groups like the Sierra Club and Transit Riders Union, as well as campus groups like the Professional Staff Organization. You can read a brief history of the U-Pass campaign here.
Voting Yes in our union vote happening right now helps make positive changes like this possible. By forming a union, we:
- Gain the right to bargain as equals with the University Administration, giving us more power to advocate for changes that improve our lives and the lives of others;
- Gain the ability to better enforce the terms we bargain (note in the history above, the Union for Student Employees used their contractual grievance procedure to prevent UW Admin from backing out of their agreement to provide the fully subsidized U-Pass to hourly workers. This helped set the stage for the benefit to be extended to all campus workers);
- Become more powerful advocates on and off campus so that we have a collective voice and independent resources to research, advocate, and mobilize for policy change: whether at the bargaining table, in the Courts, or in lawmaking bodies locally and nationally.
Do Your Part – Vote Yes!
Not all of us have time to dedicate to individual advocacy on every issue that affects our campus, but all of us can strengthen our voice by voting to establish our union. Please take a moment to vote Yes now and let us know when you have!
Still have questions?
We’re continuing to add to our list of Questions and Answers about the vote. Here’s a recent one:
Q: The question on the ballot is “Do you wish to be represented for the purpose of collective bargaining by UW Researchers United / International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Workers of America, Local Union 4121”. If a majority of us vote Yes will we all join the UAW as dues-paying members?
A: No. If a majority of us vote Yes we will create a union of Research Scientist/Engineers A-4 that is part of UAW so that we can collectively bargain with the UW Administration. This is not the same as choosing to join the UAW as a dues paying member. After the contract has been negotiated and democratically approved we can each individually choose whether to become a member of the union and pay dues, or not.
At any point let us know if you’d like to chat (contact@uwresearchersunited.
UWRU/UAW Election Organizing Committee
Thaddeus Armstrong
Jared Bechtel
Jai Broome
Shelly Carpenter
Ivan Cruz
Kellie Dunn
Abby Gambrill
Sharon Garrett
Victor Han
Phil Hurvitz
Maddie Jones
Eli Kaufman
Julia Kobelt
Cara Margerhio
Deborah Nemens
Katie Osterhage
Daniel Pfalmer
Van Redila
Sam Richardson
Jacob Tietsort
Amanda Winans
Tricia Wu