Yesterday, April 20th, we officially started our Contract negotiations with Columbia University’s Administration!!💥💥💥

Here’s a recap of what happened:

9 am, the rally!

150 of us Postdocs, ARSs and friends gathered at Pablo’s park to kick-off the first day of negotiations!!! Colleagues from Mt. Sinai (SPOC) and Columbia Grad Student Workers (SWC) joined to show support. 80+ bagels, 8 lbs of cream cheese, liters of coffee were consumed and CPW t-shirts distributed. ☀️🌈🔥

10 am, collective walking to Studebaker building and bargaining table formation.
💻📖🖋️

10:15 am – 3:30 pm, negotiation time!
🗣️💫

After brief introductions of the respective members, the two bargaining teams (Union, Administration) addressed the following:

– Our comprehensive proposal, amending 15 articles on our contract (only introduced). 

– Hybrid modality for negotiation sessions. One of the main is to make the sessions accessible to every Member. The CU Admin pushed hard against hybrid bargaining!!!

– CU Admin’s proposal. They offered modifications of only 4 articles:

  • Vacations
  • Grievance and Arbitration
  • Union dues
  • Union access and rights

We will debrief their offer with the BC this Tuesday by Zoom, info here below. Join the session and let us know what you think!!! The most concerning issues in their offer are the following: weakening and defunding our Union, slowing down the grievance process and taking away our right to have unused vacation paid.

– They asked some questions on selected proposals of our package.
CHECK THE BARGAINING ARTICLE TRACKER

  • Throughout the day, we took breaks to discuss within our group how to move forward and what to reply to CU Admin. (Caucusing). Hybrid bargaining is fundamental if we want to be able to hear from our Members during these moments!!!

What’s next?

Next scheduled bargaining session is on May 9, 10am. We requested more dates given that are only 2 months away from the expiration of our contract. They will get back to us with more dates.We will keep you updated!

Debrief!!! Join the Zoom session with the Bargaining Committee (Tuesday, April 25th at 6 pm/zoom link) and tell us what you think!!!The most concerning issues we need to address are:

  • Specifics of the CU Admin’s offer.
  • How much we want to fight for the hybrid option.
  • Our next steps.
  • How do we fight for better terms on our contract?

RSVP for the debrief discussion on April 25th at 6:00pm

Do you want to know more?

Join the debriefing session on zoom!

Read the minutes from the 1st bargaining session!

Follow our next emails with updates on future steps!

Reach out to us to get involved!

Follow us on social media! (IG, Twitter, Slack)

Share this info with your friends and colleagues!

Cheers!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Bargaining Committee.

Throughout the day we paused the bargaining process to discuss strategy with all postdocs and ARSs in the room, without the administration bargaining team. This is called caucusing. It only works if people join the bargaining sessions—that’s why hybrid bargaining is so important.
HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

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