May 2, 2022
UW Admin Presents Its Case (?)
This week we will be at a hearing conducted by the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) over the issue of whether approximately 230 Research Scientist/Engineers (Assistant – RSE 4) can appropriately be excluded from our bargaining unit. The University Administration will formally present its case to a PERC Hearing Officer, who will gather evidence and testimony to provide to the PERC Executive Director for a decision. Over the course of several pre-hearing mediation sessions we’ve seen little evidence to support the University Administration’s case (see previous updates). Our biggest concern about the hearing is its possible length: the scale of UW’s challenges could easily consume not just three days but likely many weeks. We will continue to push for significant reduction of challenges and hope PERC will do the same; in the meantime you can still reach out to your department head or supervisor to ask them to help speed the process by contacting Labor Relations.
Hearing dates are Tuesday 5/3, Thursday 5/5 and Friday 5/6 (9:30 am – 5:30 pm all days, over zoom). These hearings are public and we encourage you to join for as long as you can: just email us [uwresearchersunited@gmail.com
Voting Details On the Way
In spite of these delays we have received confirmation from PERC that they will hold a representation vote to help us get certified more quickly—hopefully in mid-to-late May! PERC is determining when the vote will be held, how it will be conducted (likely over email but TBD), how individuals the University has challenged will be able to cast their votes, and more. As soon as we have this information we will pass it on and post it on our website. In the meantime please fill out your commitment to Vote Yes so we can build a strong, swift campaign to get certified and begin bargaining!
Your continued support and involvement is greatly appreciated! At any time don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
In solidarity,
Jai Broome
Iván Cruz
Kellie Dunn
Abby Gambrill
Julia Kobelt
Cara Margherio
Meredith Rawls
Tricia Wu