Bargaining Committee Vacancy Election

This is a reminder that our colleagues, Graduate Workers of Columbia (GWC), continue to strike for a fair contract this week. Picket lines will take place from 10-2pm at the Morningside Campus today and Friday, and at the Manhattanville campus on Thursday. Please stand with our colleagues fighting for a contract, even if you can only make it for a short time!

Please let us know if you can make it to a picket!

In addition, faculty at Columbia are circulating an Open Letter after the university’s proposed to have faculty serve on a panel to appeal cases of sexual harassment and discrimination affecting graduate workers. Columbia has since changed it’s position, but is still rejecting the same neutral arbitration protections that we have in our contract. If you know faculty members who would support a truly neutral process to address issues of harassment and discrimination, please encourage them to read and sign on to the Open Letter, which they can find at this link. 

Finally, our Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion working group along with our Executive Board has published a statement from our Local condemning the rise of racist violence against Asian communities. If you want to get involved in your union in order to address racism at the university and the broader society, you can sign up for our working group on anti-racism, diversity and inclusion.

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!

At our last membership meeting we heard reports from our unionized colleagues, the Graduate Workers of Columbia, about their contract negotiations. Support from our union will help them win a fair contract, strengthen the collective voice of academic workers at Columbia and allow us to continue improving our working conditions by building on each other’s successes. 

Picket lines are taking place at all 3 Manhattan campuses from 10-2pm. We encourage you to join your postdoctoral colleagues standing in solidarity with Graduate Workers at their picket lines, even if it’s for a short period. Find more information about time and locations and RSVP here. 

On another note, we discussed the upcoming endorsement process for the New York City mayoral race through the UAW’s Community Action Program, and how this process can provide researchers with a bigger voice in national, state, and local politics, particularly for those of us who are on visas and cannot vote. Click here to join our Political Action working group discussing the endorsement process.

In addition, members provided details about three different virtual film screenings taking place next week that may be of interest:  

On Tuesday March 23 7-9pm

As part of UAW Region 9A work on fighting systemic racism, the Civil and Human Rights Council will premier the film “Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem.” After the documentary we will have a discussion with the producer of the film, some of our UAW siblings and formerly incarcerated panelists to learn about their experiences with the criminal justice system. See the flyer attached and RSVP here.

“A powerful, emotional and important film. Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films leading the charge, once again. The film powerfully illustrates that every year America arrests, prosecutes, and jails millions of people, overwhelmingly Black and brown, for minor offenses. This is neither an accident nor inevitable. Watch, absorb, and then go out and take action….” – Anthony Romero/ Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union

On Friday March 26, 6-8pm 

Screening of “In Silico” followed by Q&A with Director Noah Hutton – find more information here 

From Monday Apr 5, 2021, through Thursday, Apr 8, 2021

The Columbia Postdoctoral Society (CUPS) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Journal Club has organized a virtual screening of the 2020 documentary by Director Shalini Kantayya “CODED BIAS”. Find more information here

In Solidarity,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, check out columbiapostdocunion.org, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

This is a reminder that our March Membership Meeting is tonight, March 15th at 6pm over zoom. Please click here to register for the meeting.

Among other topics, we will vote on a statement of support for our unionized teaching and research assistant colleagues who are now on strike for a fair contract. They have taken this decision after over two years of bargaining and a strike authorization vote in which a strong majority of workers voted 96% “yes” to authorize a strike. Click here to read our proposed statement.

We fought hard for the rights we won in our first contract, including hundreds of researchers signing an open letter committing to organize for a strike authorization vote if necessary. Now Columbia is withholding these same rights from our colleagues, like protections against sexual harassment and discrimination, union security, and fair compensation. For Postdocs and ARS, it’s important that graduate workers are successful in their negotiations. When both of our workforces have strong contracts – over 5,000 workers who drive the teaching and research mission of the university – we will all have a bigger collective voice at Columbia.

Please support our colleagues in their fight for a fair contract:

• Attend an in-person, socially-distanced picket on campus this week or next.
• If you can, please donate to their strike hardship fund here. Columbia has threatened to cut pay and stipends from striking workers during a pandemic.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, check out columbiapostdocunion.org, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook!

We are pleased to announce that in response to the organizing and advocacy of parents in our Union during the ongoing pandemic-related childcare crisis, Columbia will offer employees with children under the age of 13 an additional crisis care benefit of up to 10 days between March 15th and April 16th.

This program provides reimbursement of up to $100/day for up to 10 days for out of pocket childcare costs incurred as a result of a pandemic-related breakdown of your normal childcare. You can find more details about the program here: https://worklife.columbia.edu/backupcare. 

Through our parents working group, researchers worked tirelessly while simultaneously juggling their own parenting and work responsibilities to call for emergency childcare support. In the face of the university’s initial resistance, we mobilized and organized, including a petition with hundreds of signatures, writing an op-ed, and making numerous calls to Interim Provost Katznelson’s office, rapidly filling his voicemail box to demonstrate the power of our collective voice to push for positive change at the university. 

The NIH has also extended a new childcare subsidy, announced last week, to students and postdoc NRSA fellowship holders of $2500 per budget period. These changes are in part the result of years of effort by academic workers in the UAW, representing over 60,000 university employees, to win greater recognition of the burdens faced by parents in academia. Through our union we can influence substantive change for all researchers. If you have any questions about how to make use of this subsidy or Columbia’s benefit, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

These successful initiatives show the importance of having a strong union. When we speak together, Columbia responds. This benefit is a huge step in the right direction, but still falls short of what is needed in this moment. Reaching majority membership will allow us to push even more for what we need.  Click here to get involved in our membership drive or join a working group to fight for what’s important to you!

Join us at our next membership meeting (Monday, March 15th at 6pm) to hear more about our initiatives to fight for better working conditions at Columbia and beyond. 

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

P.S. – To stay informed about our union, check out columbiapostdocunion.org, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook

This is a reminder that our March Membership Meeting will be next Monday, March 15, at 6pm. Please click here to RSVP for the online membership meeting. 

Campus solidarity: We will discuss how to support our graduate worker colleagues in their upcoming strike, which will begin on March 15th unless the administration makes real progress and settles a fair agreement with them before then.

Political action: There will be an update on city council and mayoral races. Along with other UAW locals in the city we will soon participate in a process to endorse candidates for mayor – if you have thoughts on the race, please feel free to share them at the meeting!

Organizing: We will discuss progress on our membership drive, as well as the start of a committee to discuss union representation for postdocs paid directly from external funding sources (not through Columbia payroll) with the Columbia administration. 

General announcements: There will be short announcements on progress with setting up our local union, including an update on dues and fair share fees deductions and other finances.

Please click here to let us know if you can make it to the meeting!

Let us know if you have any questions or thoughts,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

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

We have received inquiries related to vacation and time off under our union contract and there is misinformation circulating that we want to clarify.  Please fill out this short survey to let us know what is happening in your department. 

We have been informed that there are departments requesting Postdocs and ARS to fill out forms to track their time off. Our union contract does not require the use of timesheets or the tracking of time off. Doing so is a decision by the Columbia administration, and is one method the university can take to ensure that departments and labs provide the amount of time-off that we deserve under our contract. If you would like assistance, have any questions or doubts about how to fill in tracking sheets or whether they are consistent with our contract, please contact us.

Note that vacation policy per our contract does not modify the previous policy for Postdocs and ARS’s. According to our contract, Article Section 1: 

Full-time Employees shall earn two days of vacation for each month of appointment, up to a maximum of twenty-three (23) days, during their first twenty (20) years of full-time service and two-and-one-third days for each month, up to a maximum of twenty-eight (28) days, thereafter. 

• In addition, we have 14 holiday/personal days indicated in Article 11 (12 holidays/2 personal days at CUMC and 11/3 on the rest of the campuses). If you have to work on any of the indicated days you have the right to request an alternate day off. 
• You maintain vacation days accumulated before the ratification of the contract, as long as you use them before June 30 of the following year in which it was earned. At least one department has attempted to use the previous absence of tracking and the collective bargaining agreement as excuses to strip a worker off their previously earned vacation time, as well as other violations of Columbia policy and our contract.
• Upon the ending of your appointment if you have unused vacation days you have the right to receive payment in lieu of your days off. 
• You should plan vacation time in consultation with your principal investigator but your request can’t be unreasonably denied. If you have any issues planning your vacation/time off please reach out as soon as possible. 
• Postdoctoral Research Fellows are entitled to the same rights to vacation as Postdoctoral Research Scientists/Scholars unless the provisions of the granting agency specify otherwise. 

In order for us to understand more about how this policy is being implemented across departments, please fill out this short survey so that we can detect and correct any issues that are arising. The results of the survey are confidential and only non-identifier information will be shared unless we receive your permission to share it. 

If you have any questions, concerns, or are not sure whether you are having an issue you can contact us at: columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com or fill in a Workplace Issue Form.

Best,

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

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

Today marks the two year anniversary of the start of contract negotiations between our unionized graduate student worker colleagues (GWC-UAW) and Columbia. The university administration has refused to make progress on a number of important issues. If Columbia does not make real progress to reach a fair contract, GWC plans to set a strike deadline. 

Click here to watch the Live Stream of their rally at Noon, 2/25, or attend in-person (and socially-distanced) at the Low Library steps at Morningside Campus. 

Click here to attend their Virtual Rally over zoom TONIGHT at 7pm, 2/25. (A member from CPW-UAW will be speaking!)

Today GWC will be holding two rallies calling on Columbia to make more progress, featuring graduate workers talking about the biggest issues in bargaining, as well as allies from other unions at Columbia, academic worker unions, and local politicians. Attending these events is an important way to show Columbia that Postdocs/ARS strongly support our graduate student worker colleagues! You can read more details and their demands here

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!

In recent membership meetings we have discussed helping a fellow postdoc at Columbia who has been charged with over $3,000 in unfair health insurance fees after enrolling in the American Language Program. The University has been unwilling to reverse these fees and has since transferred the debt to an external collections agency.

We are launching a fundraiser campaign to collect some financial aid for this researcher. Please, read the details and donate through this Go Fund Me. Feel free to disseminate in your lab/department or anyone in your circles who may be interested in helping. Collectively we can help our fellow worker with this unfair debt.

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!

At our February membership meeting last Monday we heard a report from our union colleagues in the Graduate Workers of Columbia (GWC). Thursday, February 25 marks the two year anniversary of their negotiations for a first contract, but Columbia has continued to refuse to make progress on a number of important issues on the table. If the University does not make real progress to reach a fair contract by February 25, GWC plans to intensify the pressure on the university by setting a strike deadline. You can read more details and their demands here. 

On February 25, GWC will be holding two rallies calling on Columbia to make more progress, featuring graduate workers talking about the biggest issues in bargaining, as well as allies from other unions at Columbia, other academic worker unions, and local politicians. Attending these events is an important way to show Columbia that Postdocs/ARS strongly support our graduate student worker colleagues! 

Attend an in-person, socially-distanced rally at the Low Library steps or click here to watch the Live Stream at Noon, 2/25.

Click here to attend a virtual rally over zoom at 7pm, 2/25.

Finally, we elected two new members to our Elections committee. We welcome Rafael Gras Peña (Associate Research Scientist in the department of Nephrology) and John Christin (Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the department of Hematology and Oncology,) and look forward to working with them and holding fair elections in the future.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, suggestions or thoughts. 

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 February Membership Meeting will be next Monday, February 15, at 6pm. Please click here to RSVP for our online membership meeting.

At the meeting we will hold an election for new members of our Elections Committee. As per our bylaws any member in good standing who is not holding another elected position will be automatically nominated. Up to three (3) members and one (1) alternate will be elected at the meeting. Please consider accepting nomination at the meeting if you would like to help our new local union with running fair and transparent elections! Let us know if you would be interested in hearing more about the roles and responsibilities involved.  

As proposed at our last membership meeting, we will discuss support for this letter from CUNY for Abolition and Safety, hear a report from Graduate Workers at Columbia (GWC) on their efforts to reach a fair contract, and hear reports from the Executive Board and Working Groups on our membership drive and other campaigns.

Please let us know if you have any questions or thoughts.

CPW-UAW Local 4100 Executive Board

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