Happy Holidays! As the year comes to a close, we wanted to share some important information on your right to paid time-off under our contract, as well as some updates on our Union.
In this email:
- Contract Rights: Holidays and Vacation Days
- UC Student Researchers Win Union Recognition
- Student Workers of Columbia Strike and Virtual Rally (12/23)
- UAW Referendum Results
- New Voting Rights for NYC International Workers
Contract Rights: Holidays and Vacation Days
As the holidays approach, keep in mind that you have a right to paid holidays and vacation days, as per our contract (Article 11). This year, you are entitled to four holiday days on Christmas Eve (December 24), December 27, New Year’s Eve (December 31) and January 3, in addition to personal days (2 at CUMC and 3 at Morningside).
All researchers also earn 2 days of paid vacation per month of employment, up to 23 days (28 days after 20 years of employment). Vacation days earned remain valid up to June 30 of the year following the year in which they were earned. If you are in any way being refused this vacation time or discouraged from taking days off, please fill out this Workplace Issue Form or reach out at columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com so that we can help you enforce your rights under our contract.
UC Student Researchers Win Union Recognition
On December 8th, 17,000 unionized graduate student researchers at the University of California won recognition for their union, Student Researchers United-UAW, becoming the biggest new group of workers to unionize this year and the biggest ever in higher education. Their win comes after majority strike authorization votes by both our student researcher and postdoctoral colleagues at UC (who are currently in contract negotiations.) Check out this article on how they won, and this recent event they held with AOC on how unionization can improve academic working conditions.
Student Workers of Columbia Strike Enters 8th Week
As our colleagues in SWC-UAW enter their 8th week on strike for a fair contract, we are proud that our Union voted at our December membership meeting to donate $1,000 to their strike fund. You can find other ways to support our student worker colleagues in our solidarity statement here.
Student workers will hold a Digital Rally to increase pressure on Columbia to reach an agreement, this Thursday, 12/23 at 1pm, along with community, labor, and elected allies. Click here to RSVP for the Digital Rally.
UAW Referendum Results
The results from the recent national UAW Referendum are in, with 36.3% supporting the continuation of the delegate voting system to elect members of the International Executive Board (IEB) and 63.7% supporting switching to a direct voting system. This means that moving forward, all UAW members, including all members of CPW-UAW, will be able to vote directly for UAW national leadership.
New Voting Rights for NYC International Workers
On December 9, the New York City Council approved legislation that would allow eligible noncitizens to vote in municipal elections beginning in January 2023. This expansion of voting rights to almost 100,000 eligible New Yorkers (including green card holders, DACA holders, and noncitizens authorized to work in the country) will make NYC the largest jurisdiction in the country to allow noncitizen voting. This win for workers is the result of organizing and advocacy by many labor groups, including UAW Region 9A, of which we are proud to be a part.
Inform the Priorities of Our Union!
In 2021, we worked hard to enforce and expand the many rights and protections that we won in our first contract, and in 2022 we will likely begin preparations to negotiate our second contract in 2022. If you have not already, take a minute to complete this survey of your priorities for 2022.
In solidarity,
CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board
P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Slack, Twitter and Facebook!