Bargaining Committee Vacancy Election

We received a request from a member of our union to add a point to the agenda for our membership meeting tonight on “Writing a letter to express solidarity with Palestinians”. To inform our discussion, here are some examples of statements from other Academic unions: UAW 4121 (Univ. of Washington), HGSU UAW (Harvard), GSOC UAW (NYU), GAGE-AFT (Georgetown), GradLaborOrg-AFT (Brown) and GEO-AFT (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

In order to discuss this topic along with other items on the agenda (details here) please,

 RSVP to attend our membership meeting tonight at 6:30pm

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Slack, Twitter and Facebook!

Check out some recent updates on our Union (see below for more details):

• Reminder: Membership Meeting this Monday – (see our cheat sheet for discussion and votes!)
• Including a discussion of “one-member-one-vote” – some resolutions from other UAW Academic Locals here.
• Join our new Union Slack!
• Upcoming: UAW Region 9A webinar on anti-Asian/AAPI racism – Details here. 
• Support Rutgers Postdocs in their negotiations for a new contract – Sign the petition!

May membership meeting

Our May membership meeting will be next Monday, May 17th at 6:30pm.  

RSVP here to attend our membership meeting

Click here to read about proposed discussion points for this meeting and feel free to reach out to columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com with any questions, or if there are topics you would like to discuss at future membership meetings.

Upcoming UAW “One-member-one-vote” referendum

We will discuss the upcoming referendum on whether the UAW will transition from a delegate system for union-wide elections to a “one-member-one-vote” system, in which each member votes on our national leadership directly. All members of our union will be able to participate in this referendum, likely over the Fall. Click here to read some resolutions passed by other UAW Academic Locals. 

Join our Slack!

We are using Slack as an additional space for discussion and engagement in our union. Click here to sign up if you would like to join the Union slack!

Upcoming UAW Region 9A webinar on AAPI racism

Finally, for Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, the UAW Education and Events Subcommittee of the Civil and Human Rights Council of our Region (9A) is organizing an online Forum to discuss the history of anti-Asian racism in the US, as well as the current experience of our members.

Please, join our UAW members across Region 9A on May 26, 7:00pm-9:00pm in this important conversation. See more details here and register here: http://bit.ly/UAWMay26

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!

Our May membership meeting will be next Monday, May 17th at 6:30pm.  

RSVP here to attend our membership meeting

We’ll discuss general updates on the process of establishing our local, including reports on our finances, membership, and provisions from our contract that should go into effect soon like the university-wide committee on bullying.

In terms of organizing, we would like to start a conversation about fighting back against austerity measures by the University, including the caps on raises and retirement, and brainstorm possible actions we can take as a union. 

We will also discuss the upcoming referendum on whether the UAW will transition from a delegate system for union-wide elections to a “one-member-one-vote” system, in which each member votes on our national leadership directly. All members of our union will be able to participate in this referendum, likely over the Fall.

Please feel free to reach out to columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com with any questions, or if there are topics you would like to discuss at future membership meetings.

In solidarity, 

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

There is a lot happening in our Local Union. Here are some quick updates and ways to get involved:

• Advocacy for the US government to help developing countries with COVID-19 Treatments & Vaccines
• Discussion about Timesheet tracking of Vacation and Paid Time Off
• Discussion about austerity cuts to Retirement Benefits of Columbia workers
• Anti-bullying working group
• Date for our May membership meeting
• Job offer to work for our Local

National Campaigns

Members of our union at Columbia have started discussing ways to advocate for the US government to provide support to India during its current COVID-19 crisis, and other countries with the COVID-19 vaccine efforts. We have published this statement supporting the temporary waiver of IP policies to ensure every country can produce COVID-19 vaccines until the pandemic is under control. In addition, we are coordinating with other UAW Academic Locals to continue campaigning on this issue, and for the US government to join the other 58 countries that have already agreed to the TRIPS waiver. If you are interested in being part of this conversation, please email to columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com. 

Workplace Issues: 

Members have also been discussing  how to improve the new vacation/paid time off tracking requirements implemented by Columbia after we won our contract.  While it is important that Columbia ensures that each of us has the paid time off we deserve under our contract, these requirements should not be burdensome for researchers. In addition, we want to begin a conversation about how Columbia’s cuts to retirement, an austerity measure implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, are affecting us and what we can do about it. If you want to participate in any of these discussions, please email to columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com.

Next Wednesday May 12 at 6:30pm we want to meet to discuss next steps for our upcoming committee with the administration regarding new policy against workplace bullying. If you are interested in attending please RSVP here.  

Building our Local

Mark your calendar for our next membership meeting on Monday, May 17 at 6:30pm. More details will be sent as the date approaches. 

Finally, as approved at our special membership meeting on April 8th, the Executive Board has posted a job offering for an organizer in our Local. If you or someone you know would be interested in working as a full time organizer to build our Local Union, please check out the posting on our website for details and how to apply. 

Strong majority membership will make our union even stronger and better-resourced, so that we can continue to campaign for improvements. If you would like to help out with our ongoing membership drive, click here.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if there are any questions, suggestions or comments. 

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

Our April membership meeting will be today Monday, April 19th at 6pm.  

RSVP here to attend our membership meeting

Besides general announcements we will hear a report from the Financial Secretary, progress on our membership drive, issues with Columbia’s new Paid Time Off tracking systems and what we can do about them, a discussion about a Slack channel for our Local Union for those interested in being more connected, and an update on the negotiations of our unionized graduate worker colleagues.

As a reminder, to conduct discussions and votes in an orderly manner at our membership meetings, we follow the parliamentary procedure used in most Local Unions and community organization meetings outlined in Robert’s Rules of Order. You can find a cheat sheet with the most commonly used rules here. If you have any questions about how to use these rules during the meeting, always feel free to ask. As a new local union, we are all learning together and there are no wrong questions. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or suggestions.

In Solidarity,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

Our April membership meeting will be next Monday, April 19th at 6pm.  

RSVP here to attend our membership meeting

Besides general announcements we will hear a report from the Financial Secretary, progress on our membership drive, issues with Columbia’s new Paid Time Off tracking systems and what we can do about them, a discussion about a Slack channel for our Local Union for those interested in being more connected, and an update on the negotiations of our unionized graduate worker colleagues.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or suggestions.

In Solidarity,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

Reminder that our special membership meeting to discuss and approve an initial budget for our union will take place tonight Thursday, April 8th, at 7:00 p.m. The budget will consist of monthly expenditures such as Local employee salaries, insurance, and the cost of various software recommended for local union finances. 

Expenses made by our local are approved by the membership. The Financial Secretary will therefore provide an expense report at all future membership meetings. We can also vote to amend our budget or approve additional expenses (for grievances, arbitrations, etc.) at monthly membership meetings as needed.

RSVP here for the Special Meeting on Thursday, April 8th, at 7:00 p.m.

In addition, we want to give an update about the GoFundMe we launched a few weeks ago to help a worker burdened with unfair healthcare fees they incurred when signing up for the American Language Program offered by Columbia. While we ensure that this won’t happen to any other researcher, thanks to the outpouring support of postdocs and ARS the worker has received funds to cover more than 50% of this debt. Thanks everyone who donated and shared the campaign!

In solidarity, 

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

Our special membership meeting to discuss and approve an initial budget for our union will take place this Thursday, April 8th, at 7:00 p.m. The budget will consist of monthly expenditures such as Local employee salaries, insurance, and the cost of various software recommended for local union finances. 

Expenses made by our local are approved by the membership. The Financial Secretary will therefore provide an expense report at all future membership meetings. We can also vote to amend our budget or approve additional expenses (for grievances, arbitrations, etc.) at monthly membership meetings as needed.

RSVP here for the Special Meeting on Thursday, April 8th, at 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow(Wednesday) from 5:30-8:20pm UAW-NYC will hold a forum forUAW Locals to interview some of the candidates running for Mayor of NYC. Our Local will have the opportunity to bring up questions that members discussed at last week’s CAP working group meeting. 

The meeting will also include a training on the new Rank Choice Voting system implemented in NYC this year, given by Alex Robins, a UAW member from Local 7902. You can see the schedule below and attend for any part you are interested in! 

RSVP for UAW’s Mayoral Forum+Rank Choice Vote Training on Wednesday, April 7th.

• 5:40 Maya Wiley
• 6:00 Katherine Garcia
• 6:20 RCV Presentation
• 7:00 Eric Adams
• 7:20 Diane Morales
• 7:40 Shaun Donovan
• 8:00 Scott Stringer

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or suggestions.

In Solidarity,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board and CAP working group

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

This Thursday, April 1 at 6:30pm we will meet to discuss the work that our Local’s Community Action Program (CAP) working group has been doing. We will also discuss the process of endorsing political candidates through our union in NYC. 

Please RSVP here to share your thoughts about the mayoral candidates! 

The UAW Voluntary Community Action Program (V-CAP) pulls together the resources that UAW Locals in NYC receive from members’ voluntary donations (independent of membership dues) in order to support pro-worker political candidates who support the values of our union. Only citizens or green card holders can donate to the V-CAP, but by working together to shape our priorities we all can have an effect on the political process regardless of our immigration status.  

Our Local, along with other UAW unions, can vote on which candidates UAW-CAP endorses in NYC. With upcoming elections for 35 of 51 City council seats, all five Borough Presidents, Manhattan District Attorney, and Mayor (more information about each role here), our CAP working group has been busy collecting information and having conversations to determine which candidates best represent the interests and values of our members. On Thursday, we will hear a report about the candidates whom our Local has already voted to endorse and the upcoming mayoral race. 

RSVP for the meeting on our political endorsements here!

Following this meeting, on April 7th, the UAW-CAP will organize a Mayoral Forum with the following candidates for mayor: 

• Eric Adams         https://www.ericadams2021.com/
• Shaun Donovan https://shaunfornyc.com/
• Kathryn Garcia   https://www.kgfornyc.com/
• Dianne Morales https://www.dianne.nyc/
• Scott Stringer   https://stringerformayor.com/
• Maya Wiley       https://mayawileyformayor.com/
• Andrew Yang     https://www.yangforny.com/

This Forum is open to all UAW members (more details on how to participate will be sent as the date approaches). Our Local will get to ask the Mayoral candidates one question. Come to our meeting on Thursday so that you can share your thoughts about the candidates and what question(s) we ought to ask them.

If you are unable to attend but you would still like to voice your opinion please, click here to share your thoughts. 

In Solidarity,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board and CAP working group

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

As briefly discussed at our last membership meeting, our Local, as part of the UAW Community Action Program (CAP) participates in the process of endorsements of political candidates in NYC. Next Thursday April 1 at 6:30pm we will discuss the upcoming endorsement for the New York City mayoral race. 

Please, RSVP here to share your thoughts about the mayoral candidates! 

We will send more information about the meeting and the process of endorsement, but in addition, we will discuss which question our Local will get to ask the candidates at the upcoming mayoral forum organized by UAW-CAP on April 7th. This forum will be open to all UAW members (more details on how to participate will be sent as the date approaches). 

Finally, as discussed at our last membership meeting, we are calling a special membership meeting on Thursday, April 8th, at 7:00 p.m. to discuss and approve a budget for our union. This budget will consist of monthly expenditures such as Local employee salaries, insurance, and the cost of buying various software that are recommended to run our local. 

Any expenses made by the local have to be approved by the membership. The Financial Secretary will therefore provide an expense report at all our future membership meetings. We can also vote to amend our budget or approve additional expenses (for grievances, arbitrations, etc.) at monthly membership meetings as needed.

RSVP here for the Special Meeting on Thursday, April 8th, at 7:00 p.m.

In Solidarity,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!