December 9, 2022
DECEMBER 15th at noon, all hands on deck!
December 15th is a pivotal day for our contract negotiations with UW Admin. In order for us to win a strong contract, quickly, we need to let UW Management know that all of us are paying close attention and that we will not let them delay any further. On 12/15 at noon, there will be dozens of rallies happening all over UW, or you and your labmates can attend via zoom as well. Please RSVP here to find a rally party near you and bring at least one other fellow RSE to the Rally Party! UW Management needs a reminder that the 1.67 billion dollars worth of research happening at UW only works because we do!
Bargaining Updates
At last week’s bargaining session, we passed 31 proposals to UW Management, and, yet again, yesterday management had no proposals ready at the start of bargaining.
As you might know, in recent days the University has been notifying overtime exempt RSEs that they will be converted to overtime non-exempt, meaning they will be required to track and submit their hours and they will lose access to certain benefits like partial day absence and period activity. Admin is doing this in anticipation of a significant increase on January 1, 2023 to the minimum pay threshold for overtime exempt employees [LINK to L&I chart]. Rather than raise wages above this new threshold (which our Compensation proposal would allow), or even bargain over this decision, Admin has taken the position that they are permitted to make these changes because they have done so in the past. Note that this is the opposite position UW took when they decided not to provide our annual merit pay increases in September of this year.
It is our position that UW Admin has a legal obligation to bargain this change and we are considering all possible means of enforcing this. UW ended bargaining yesterday by presenting a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (pdf link) proposing that we agree to allow these changes to continue. We expect this to be a key issue in our coming sessions.
Despite starting the day with zero proposals for us, after multiple hours of caucus time, UW Administration did come back with counter proposals on nine articles. Of the exchanges yesterday, one of the most concerning was that management countered (pdf link) our Exit Interview article by striking ALL language related to centering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as a priority of both the Union and the University, as well as using exit interviews as a means of providing an opportunity to identify DEI successes and opportunities for improvement. We handedly disagree and countered (pdf link) by returning this language centering the importance of assessing DEI issues in our workplace.
You can see all of the proposals we passed yesterday, along with previously passed proposals at our Bargaining Center.
Our next day of bargaining is on 12/13/2022. Please RSVP here if you plan to attend, and reach out if you have any questions.
Finally, in case you aren’t already a follower, a quick plug for our social media accounts; they are an easy way to stay in the loop: Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
In solidarity,
UWRU/UAW Bargaining Committee
Thaddeus Armstrong
Leila Blair
Nick Bolten
Jai Broome
Erin Carll
Shelly Carpenter
Bonnie Chang
Morgan Crotta
Iván Cruz
Abby Gambrill
Jay Mas Gilvydis
Anya Kalata
Julia Kobelt
Katherine Lasdin
Ellen MacLachlan
Cara Margherio
Katie Osterhage
Deborah Nemens
Van Redila
Annelise Smith
Galen Stewart
Kambiz Tavabi
Jacob Tietsort
Stacey Wedlake
Ryan Will
Tricia Wu
Joshua Yee