As we move closer to negotiations with Columbia, we want to take a moment to describe our vision of how we hope to promote a democratic and representative process by ensuring the ability of Postdocs and Associate Research Scientists to stay informed and participate in the process of winning a fair contract.
Negotiating a first contract can be a time-consuming and challenging process involving conflicting proposals and pushback from the university on the way toward a final agreement. In order to win the strongest possible contract, we know from our colleagues at other universities that it will be critical that Postdocs and Associate Research Scientists (ARS) participate actively in the process. We therefore plan to utilize multiple strategies to enable Postdocs and ARS to stay informed and to participate. Participation through a variety of actions will strengthen our negotiations and help us win a fair agreement, so we can all vote to ratify it and endorse it.
Some of the strategies include:
- making effective use of confidential feedback received from members to aid us in bargaining,
- establishing topic-specific working groups to work with the bargaining committee,
- coordinating with interested members to observe bargaining sessions,
- tactical use of sidebar conversations,
- regular bargaining updates and town hall meetings,
- and open email communication.
See our website for a detailed explanation of our vision for negotiating a strong contract.
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns at any time about our efforts to engage in a democratic, representative bargaining process.
Sincerely,
The CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee
Melissa McKenzie
Andrew Zaharia
Hila Milo Rasouly
Sonny Harman
Medini Annavajhala
Tulsi Patel
Steven Cook
Ignacio Hernandez-Morato