February 1, 2023
We’re taking a Strike Authorization Vote and what that means
Yesterday, hundreds of UW RSEs and Postdocs gathered in rooms, labs, and lecture halls across and off campus and made the decision that each of our bargaining units will hold Strike Authorization Votes(SAV) from February 6-16th.
- You might be wondering what this means, so here are some Strike Authorization Vote basics:
- An SAV will authorize the RSE bargaining committee to call a strike if circumstances warrant.
- A ⅔ majority of those voting is required for the bargaining committee to be able to call a strike.
- It is a standard process within the union to ensure that this step is taken with full participation and approval from the bargaining unit before we consider calling a strike.
- An SAV does not necessarily mean that we will strike.
Why now
Last week, after 16 months of bargaining, UW librarians and UW Admin reached a tentative agreement (TA) on their contract. This agreement was reached YEARS after the librarians first formed their union, and with only hours to spare before the start of their planned strike.
RSEs, we’re currently 6 months into bargaining and over a year since we originally won our union (full recognition got delayed by 6 months due to challenges from UW). We don’t want the timeline librarians experienced to be ours, and that is why we are holding a Strike Authorization Vote.
What do we want to achieve in taking a Strike Authorization Vote?
RSEs need:
- A Fair, multi-faceted agreement: RSEs deserve a fair overall agreement that includes meaningful pathways for professional development; better support for parents, caregivers and visa holders; rights/protections that are afforded to other UW employees; practices that support equity and inclusion, and more.
- For UW admin to not violate labor law: UW must rescind the decision to unilaterally convert Research Scientists and Engineers (RSEs) into hours-tracking positions and bargain in good faith to increase wages and provide clarity and support for non-exempt RSEs.
- An End in sight: Bargaining with “no end in sight” is unacceptable. We need UW admin to commit to ending their delay tactics and finishing this contract. They have yet to even provide counter proposals on compensation, childcare, rights of international researchers, bridge funding, and more.
- A Living wage: RSEs need a living wage. UW admin must provide a response to our Compensation proposal that includes a fair increase to wages.
We will need to collectively demonstrate our willingness to fight for these demands. This is where you come in.
We need your help
If you haven’t already done so, please take a moment to pledge that you will cast your ballot in our upcoming Strike Authorization Vote using this link. You will also see on that form that we are asking each person to commit to doing at least one piece of outreach. This could include signing up for an hour of phone banking/canvassing, or requesting contact info to hold a meeting with RSEs in your work group. Let us know what you can do and an organizer will follow up with all the needed materials.
Please take 30 seconds and respond to this pledge now so that we can focus our outreach efforts where they are most needed during the coming weeks.
If you’ve got questions about our SAV, please take a look at the FAQ about our SAV and if you’ve still got questions, please reach out.
Bargaining Update
Also, we did bargain yesterday morning. Unfortunately, our overview remains largely similar to recent sessions, as UW Admin showed up with zero counter proposals ready for us and by the end of the session, they still didn’t provide a counter proposal on any of our economic articles.
We had exchanges over several different articles yesterday that do warrant highlighting:
- Workspace and Materials: This article states that the university will supply the employee with appropriate materials to do their job. UW Admin feels there should be language specifying that the employer has the right to determine these appropriate materials. We do not feel this qualification is needed. UW also wants language stating that they will garnish wages for not returning university property. We feel it is sufficient to state that, “Upon separation from the University, the employee shall return employer property.”
- Reasonable Accommodation of Employees with Disabilities: The Union and UW agree that this process should be interactive and not dictated only by one entity. We assert that this article should inform that RSEs have the right to have a union representative join them for meetings about the accommodation process. UW Admin does not want this to be explicitly stated in the contract.
- Health and Safety: Our main sticking point is that UW has indicated a lack of willingness to provide virtual ergonomic consultations to remote employees. We countered that if an employee is both 100% remote and that employee does not have the option to have a dedicated campus workspace, then at the very least, UW should provide the option to receive ergonomic consults for this subset of employees.
We reached tentative agreement on one article:
- Personnel Files
You can see all of the proposals we passed yesterday, along with previously passed proposals at our Bargaining Center.
As always, 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, and also, reach out if you have any questions.
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
Katie Osterhage
Deborah Nemens
Van Redila
Annelise Smith
Galen Stewart
Kambiz Tavabi
Jacob Tietsort
Stacey Wedlake
Ryan Will
Tricia Wu
Joshua Yee