Bargaining Committee Vacancy Election

With our June 30 deadline looming, we have been tirelessly negotiating with Columbia to resolve our differences and come to a fair agreement (There’s still time to sign the open letter demanding a fair contract).

After substantial effort to find workable compromises on protections against discrimination and harassment, Columbia again took a hard line on timeliness, continuing to present a major obstacle to finishing a contract article critical to an overall fair agreement. In the last few days, we have made essential progress on discrimination and harassment protections. For example, the University has now agreed that all discrimination and harassment complaints may be appealed to a neutral arbitrator, despite concerns regarding the Trump administration’s new Title IX regulations. However, Columbia again rejected our proposal to have the right to appeal unresolved non-Title IX complaints to arbitration after 60 days. The University has acknowledged that historically, the majority of complaints have been resolved in 60 days, and that this is the timeline the Columbia EOAA office aspires to. We have even agreed to grant University requests for an extension where warranted. We believe this is a very reasonable timeline. But the administration team still insists on an additional automatic extra 30 days. A fair process takes time, but an untimely process can never be fair. We continue this fight tomorrow and will keep you posted. This is a high priority for protecting researchers across campus.

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Sign the open letter to the administration demanding a fair contract

We had a short surprise visit from interim Provost Katznelson yesterday in our bargaining session. He asserted a strong desire to finish an agreement by the end of June and pointed to some of the recent positive changes in the University proposals. We reminded him of some of the important remaining obstacles to what we would consider a fair agreement including timeliness in non-discrimination and fellow equity.  

On the topic of Non-Discrimination, the Provost said he shared our dismay with the Trump administration’s new regulations on Title IX, which aim to enhance the rights of accused sexual harassers instead of the rights of survivors of harassment. He then previewed the University’s newest proposal, which made meaningful movement in our direction, including a significantly shorter timeline to take many discrimination harassment claims to neutral arbitration if necessary.  

Specifically, in their latest proposal the University has agreed that the Union may appeal discrimination and harassment grievances/complaints to neutral arbitration. For all discrimination and harassment complaints, the EOAA office would determine within 5 days if the case involved Title IX or not. If the Union disagreed with the determination, an agreed-upon independent lawyer would resolve the dispute within 10 days. For non-Title IX complaints, the Union would have the right to appeal to neutral arbitration after 90 days (instead of 180 in their last proposal) if the EOAA process was still incomplete. For Title IX cases, the Union could only appeal after completion of the EOAA process. They also proposed the right to re-open bargaining on this topic if the Title IX rules are overturned. While this proposal was a significant move in the right direction, we will continue to fight for more timely procedures and continue to work through our differences around the implications of the Title IX regulations.

On economic issues, the Provost touted the proposed major increases to Postdoc and Associate Researcher minimum salaries amidst a salary freeze for most campus employees. We acknowledged the significance of their proposal, but also pointed out the significantly lower increases (2%) for researchers above the new minimums during the first year of our contract. We will continue to fight for more robust increases for those already above the minimum.

Finally, we had discussion over the topic of fellow equity in regards to healthcare, childcare and other benefits and will continue bargaining over this topic.

We will work through the weekend to develop responses to their most recent proposals and expect to engage with the administration again on Monday and Tuesday. We will keep you posted. Please respond to this email if you would like to get more involved in efforts to win a fair agreement or if you would like to further discuss any of the articles.

As the situation with Trump’s proclamation to suspend new visas for foreign workers continues to develop, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

In our latest bargaining session yesterday, we exchanged more proposals on Compensation, Non-Discrimination, Leaves of Absence and Union Security. We made small progress on Compensation, but still have significant differences on that topic as well as others. As we still have a number of obstacles, nearly 200 postdoc and associate researchers have now signed a letter telling the administration that if we don’t have a fair agreement by June 30, they will ask the bargaining committee to call a strike authorization vote–please feel free to add your name here.

The bulk of our discussions today revolved around the following topics:

1. Compensation and benefits: We gave the university a new proposal that combined significant increases to minimum salaries with provisions to ensure increased compensation for all researchers. The University’s latest proposal included a new 2% lump sum payment for all researchers that would happen when the contract goes into effect, in addition to their newly proposed minimums of $60,000 for Postdocs and $66,100 for ARS and additional minimum 2% increase at every reappointment starting in 2021. While the new lump sum was a small step forward, we will continue to fight for more robust yearly increases and increases for those who would not benefit from the new minimum salary rates. The University also continues to firmly oppose any improved benefits beyond what all officers receive.

2. Non-discrimination: We had more discussion today in an effort to continue working through our differences on discrimination and harassment protections. We made a new proposal that attempted to incorporate some of their concerns while maintaining Postdoc and Associate Researchers’ right to a fair and timely process for achieving fair outcomes to grievance/complaint regarding discrimination and harassment. Our disagreements on this topic continue to present one of the largest obstacles to reaching an overall fair agreement. We are particularly concerned that many of Columbia’s objections to our proposals seem to be based on their desire to protect the rights of accused harassers, rather than survivors.

3. Union Security: We made modifications to our proposal for a union shop, a provision consistent with every other Columbia union contract, where all employees would share the cost of representation by paying dues or fees. The university has so far rejected this standard proposal.

If you would like to get more involved in the organizing efforts to win a fair contract, send us an email. We bargain again today and will provide further updates. 

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Columbia made its most substantial economic proposal yet in yesterday’s bargaining session, but the University’s overall package of proposals still falls short of what we would consider a fair agreement. This is especially true in their continued effort to provide insufficient protections against discrimination and harassment.  

We made significant progress in two major areas. First, we finished a tentative version of language for the Grievance and Arbitration article, the fundamental process for enforcing our agreement with the University. Second, the University made a major new Compensation proposal that would raise minimum Postdoc salaries to $60,000 effective July 1, 2020, including parity for Fellows, and raise minimum Associate Researcher salaries to $66,100.  

While we recognize the significance of the University’s Compensation proposal, it would leave hundreds of researchers who are already above those minimums without any guaranteed increases in the first year of our contract and would include insufficient future increases for all researchers. While there is now an overall improvement in the economics, the University continues to simultaneously propose weak and unpredictable protections against discrimination and harassment, and appears to be introducing new arguments at the last minute to justify lengthy delays in getting to fair resolutions of complaints/grievances in this area.

We expect to be bargaining again this week and will keep you posted. If you would like to read a summary of the overall status of our negotiations, go to our website here.

Please Join us for a virtual Town Hall on Thursday, June 25 for the latest updates about where things stand, including progress made and continuing challenges, and to join the discussion about how we can show Columbia that we want a strong and fair first contract. Register here for the virtual Town Hall on Thursday, June 25th at 1:00pm.

Yesterday, UAW local 5810, (the postdoc union at UC) in conjunction with UAW local 2865 (Graduate employees at UC) hosted an immigration attorney to help explain and answer questions about the impact of President Trump’s Executive Order that suspends entry to the US for some non-immigrants. You can watch a recording of the information session here. Please reach out to columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns.

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

After over a year of negotiating, we’ve reached tentative agreements with the University on many issues. In recent months, the CPW-UAW bargaining committee has been working hard to find a path to completing a fair agreement with Columbia–even as the administration tries again to pressure us by threatening to withdraw proposed pay increases if we do not reach agreement before July 1. We continue to believe a fair agreement is possible, however, the administration’s intransigence in certain areas and their approach to the negotiations continue to present major obstacles.

Join us for a virtual Town Hall on June 25 for the latest updates about where things stand, including progress made and continuing challenges, and to join the discussion about how we can show Columbia that we want a strong and fair first contract.

Register here for the virtual Town Hall on Thursday, June 25th at 1:00pm.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

As Columbia proceeds toward a fuller research ramp-up, the administration bargaining team continues to resist certain improvements for Postdoc and Associate Researchers who make up a substantial core of the research workforce. While the CPW-UAW bargaining committee continues to work in good faith in an effort to find a way to reach a fair agreement by the end of this month, the administration’s intransigence in certain areas, as well as their approach to the negotiations, present major obstacles.  

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GET MORE INVOLVED IN FIGHTING FOR A FAIR CONTRACT!

While you can read a summary of substantive differences further below, we also want to share a glimpse of how the Columbia administration and its lawyers approach the negotiation process, so you all have a better sense of the obstacles we face in completing negotiations for a fair first agreement. Here is one example from a recent session.

CPW-UAW “A fair, timely process for discrimination and harassment is a huge priority for us.”

Columbia “We will not debate this topic anymore.”

Most of us have never come this directly in contact with this side of Columbia University. We expect substantive differences, but we also expect a respectful approach to negotiating with a workforce that helps bring prestige and roughly $1 Billion per year to this university in research grants and contracts.  

We nevertheless continue to make some progress in our sessions. For example, we have come close to agreeing on a fair grievance and arbitration process to enforce our future contract provisions. While we still have to agree on the specifics of handling discrimination and harassment grievances, this is important progress since the Grievance and Arbitration article is one of the most important articles in a union contract. For a summary of the major outstanding disputes in our negotiations see below.

Compensation: While the University has offered significant increases to minimum salaries (12.3% to 13.9%) over the next 13 months, their proposal still fails to establish equity for Fellows, and does nothing to ensure fair increases for those already above the minimums or who have provided long term research service to Columbia.

Non-Discrimination: The University continues to reject provisions that would ensure a fair and timely process for survivors to address instances of sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination. Their proposal mostly makes only cosmetic changes to the existing process, which can take months to complete. Most importantly Columbia still insists that a survivor must go through the entire internal University process before even being able to appeal a dispute to a neutral arbitrator.

Leaves of Absence: The University continues to propose that an employee would be entitled to five weeks of fully-paid parental leave after one year of employment. Our proposal is that an employee would be entitled to eight weeks of fully-paid parental leave at the outset of employment.

Benefits: The University continues to propose that it retain the right to change benefits whenever it chooses, though they say they have no intention of doing so.

Effective Union Representation: Consistent with every other union contract at Columbia, we have proposed a union shop, a fair provision where all employees would be obligated to share the cost of representation by paying dues or fees. A union shop is the best way to ensure that we have adequate resources to engage in effective representation into the future. The University has rejected this very standard proposal.

We will bargain again next week and hope to have more news to report. In the meantime, please get involved and help fight for a fair contract!

March for Science NYC Fireside Chats: A Three-Part Series on Racism in STEM

March for Science NYC is dedicating their next three discussions to the topic of racism in STEM. If you are interested in participating in any of these chats, please sign up on the eventbrite link above to receive the zoom information.

Tomorrow is Juneteenth. Here are two ways to support Black Lives Matter protests in NYC.

Low Steps at Columbia at 8:46am to join with our UAW siblings across the country in 8 minutes 46 seconds of silence to honor George Floyd and other Black victims of police violence. You will also be able to join this event remotely on Zoom for those not currently able to attend protests in person.

Northwest corner of Foley Square at 1:30pm (Lafayette and Worth St). We will merge into the protest that has been called at City Hall by the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL).

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

A number of immigration law firms are reporting that the Trump Administration is preparing an executive order to be released in the coming days/weeks that could have serious negative consequences for visa holders (possibly including H-1B, J-1, F-1/OPT, L-1 and others). Specifically, the order may include restrictions on entry into the U.S. If you are currently outside the country and have a non-immigrant visa, experts are recommending that you enter the U.S. as soon as possible.

If you have any questions or need some peer advice or support, please reachout to columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com.

SPEAK OUT AGAINST TRUMP ATTACK ON RIGHTS OF INTERNATIONAL RESEARCHERS

In conjunction with other UAW academic workers, we are also using our collective union voice in advocacy efforts to push back against these discriminatory and xenophobic policies. Please follow this link to find a template letter that you can send easily to representatives to protect critical visa programs. In a previous executive proclamation, President Trump directed the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Homeland Security to “review nonimmigrant programs” and consider significantly weakening the Optional Practical Training (OPT) and Curricular Practical Training (CPT), the J-1 exchange visitor program, and the H-1 specialty worker program. This would threaten the ability of International students and scholars to continue to contribute to the instruction and research missions of Universities across the country.

Please take a moment to add your voice. And our advocacy is working— a number of our California Representatives recently joined in this letter in support of OPT scholars.

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Postdoc and Associate Researchers speak out on discrimination, harassment and bullying

Columbia must do better. While we are still negotiating modest progress on a number of issues, the Columbia administration team nevertheless continues to threaten to take back proposed economic improvements if we do not reach agreement by the end of the fiscal year when the University plans to impose COVID-related salary freezes on many other employees—a clear effort to pressure larger compromises on some of our core priorities around equity and inclusion.

We would also like to reach a fair agreement by the end of the month, but it is appalling that Columbia continues use the COVID-19 crisis to threaten to deny us long-overdue compensation improvements—especially when they do so in an effort to pressure us into agreeing to weaker protections against discrimination and harassment and provisions that would weaken our long-term voice as researchers. See below for a fuller bargaining update from our June 5 and June 8 sessions.

Despite Columbia’s disturbing approach to some of the core priority issues, we have made more progress toward resolving some of the important articles. As part of one of our packages, we finished language for the Union Access, Rights and Activity article. We also continue to move closer to resolving Grievance and Arbitration, Leaves of Absence, and Management Rights.

Some obstacles remain on core priority issues. In yesterday’s session, for example, Columbia administrators made very clear they still want to maintain as many limits as possible on the rights of survivors to address instances of alleged discrimination and harassment in a fair and timely manner. We explained what the experience of a researcher would be like to take on a grievance/complaint about harassment, and why a timely process is so important for the survivor and for research. In response, the Columbia lawyers essentially said that faced with the possibility of neutral arbitration, the University would devote substantial billable legal hours to defending the University against such allegations, rather than devoting energy to fairly resolving the problem problem. This total inability to view the problem of discrimination and harassment from the perspective of the survivor is the root of the problem at universities like Columbia.

Columbia also continues to reject proposals ensuring that all researchers receive fair pay increases, adequate access to paid parental leave, and that we have a strong voice through our union moving forward.

Let’s be clear. Roughly six weeks ago, the CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee collapsed our outstanding proposals into three packages with a variety of practical, conditional compromises intended to create a viable pathway to an overall fair agreement. We remain confident we can reach an agreement on our hopeful timeline, but Columbia will need to put more serious proposals on the table. We will bargain again on Friday and will keep you posted.

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

In our latest bargaining session Monday, we continued to make modest progress on some of the core non-economic issues remaining in our ongoing negotiations. We would again like to thank all the postdoc and associate researchers who have stepped up in recent weeks to amplify our bargaining demands, including reaching out to administrators and elected leader allies from around New York City. Please expect to do more in the coming days as we continue to move toward the research ramp-up. See fuller bargaining update below.

In sadness and outrage at the horrific murder of George Floyd, our bargaining committee also released a statement of solidarity with Black communities and against anti-Black violence. We believe that one of our fundamental purposes as a union is to use our collective voice to fight all forms of bigotry, racism and other forms of oppression and to work towards a more inclusive and equitable community inside and outside the walls of Columbia.

CPW-UAW Bargaining June 1, 2020

Columbia continues to condition any pay increases for next year on reaching agreement before the end of June. While we question the legitimacy and basis for that position, both bargaining committees have expressed a mutual desire to reach agreement in the next month. It is therefore critical that we make consistent progress as we move forward. While progress was made, Monday also showed that Columbia needs to pick up the pace on meeting some of our core demands on protections for survivors of discrimination and harassment, fair compensation, and our rights to effective representation during the life of our contract.

Most of our discussion Monday revolved around Package 2 of our outstanding proposals: the University presented a revised and improved proposal on Grievance and Arbitration, perhaps the most important article in a first union contract, which lays out the procedure by which we enforce rights and protections we have negotiated in other articles; we exchanged proposals on and came very close to resolving the Union Rights article; we presented new counter proposals on Management Rights and Union Security to the University; and we had brief discussion of the outstanding flaws in the University’s Non-Discrimination proposal. We also had a lengthy discussion about the problems in the University’s standing Compensation proposal.

In short, we continue to face several problematic positions from Columbia on major issues that are blocking our ability to reach a fair, full agreement.  

• Compensation: Columbia continues to propose that minimum salaries lag behind most other NYC institutions in the short term, that hundreds of researchers receive no guaranteed increase until at least July 2021, and no increases for long term service.  
• Non-Discrimination: while Columbia has acknowledged that their investigatory process can take too long, they still have refused to agree to any language ensuring a timely process for those who need it.
• Union versus management rights during the contract: Columbia continues to make proposals that would give them an unusually robust ability to challenge our right to take grievances to neutral arbitration and continues to oppose our proposal for union security, where out of fairness all unit members share the cost of representation to ensure adequate resources for engaging in effective representation into the future.  

We will be bargaining again on Friday and will be in touch again soon.

In solidarity,

The CPW-UAW bargaining committee

Recent Postdoc and Associate Researcher actions appear to have had some positive effect on Columbia’s approach to our negotiations and desire to reach an agreement in the near future, as well as their responses to more immediate concerns on COVID-19. However, yesterday’s session also made it clear that we will need to demonstrate our priorities even more strongly if we want to achieve the kind of fair agreement we deserve on an acceptable timeline – especially when it comes to stronger protections against discrimination and harassment. See our latest bargaining update below.

The recent positive shift in Columbia’s position is certainly thanks to the many Postdoc and Associate Researchers who have taken action to elevate our collective voice over the past several weeks. Hundreds of us have signed an open letter to the Provost demanding a fair contract, participated in our whiteboard campaign, and urged Congress to support science and research funding as we continue through and transition out of the COVID-19 crisis. There is power in numbers, so please let us know if you can join us in other actions moving forward!  

Bargaining Update May 18, 2020

First, after repeated recent discussions regarding researchers’ health and safety rights during the pending ramp-up, the University informed us that they will be announcing a COVID-19 “research ambassadors” program so that concerned individuals may raise complaints without fear of retaliation. The administration team said the details of this program would be announced this week.

The administration team also finally responded – partially – to our recent presentation of three major package proposals intended to establish a pathway to a fair agreement. Columbia restored most of its pre-COVID-19 compensation proposal on the condition that we reach an agreement by June 30, and made another move in our direction on paid parental leave. However, they made only minimal movement on stronger, more timely protections against discrimination, harassment and bullying, and did not change their proposals on other important outstanding issues. While overall these changes are in the right direction, we know Columbia can do better.

We remain committed to achieving a fair contract that provides competitive compensation for Postdocs and Associate Researchers, enables us to engage in effective representation of our rights in the workplace, and strengthens equity and inclusion in our research community. Below is the latest status of our package proposals.

Package 1 – The major remaining dispute in this package is paid parental leave. We have proposed eights weeks of fully-paid leave for new parents, available upon appointment and contract ratification, whereas Columbia has now offered five weeks, available after one year of employment and starting on January 1, 2021.

Package 2 – This package (Non-Discrimination, Grievance and Arbitration, Union Rights, Union Security, Management Rights, and No Strikes/No Lockouts. Our Non-Discrimination) includes the largest number of outstanding issues. After making significant moves to address the administration’s concerns in our last Non-Discrimination proposal, Columbia still offered only minimal new language to address our proposal for timely access to a neutral arbitrator if necessary. Columbia also did not change its position on many other outstanding issues in this package that bear on our ability to have a strong, effective voice through our union into the future.

Package 3 – Columbia restored previous proposals for significant increases to minimum salaries for Postdoc and Associate Researchers. But their proposal would still leave us behind peer institutions until at least July 2021, does not achieve full equity for Postdoctoral Research Fellows, and lacks fair increases for those above the minimums and for long term employees. Furthermore, Postdoctoral and Associate researchers whose salaries are above the new proposed minimum would not be eligible for a salary increase until July 2021.  

We will bargain again next week Wednesday and will keep you posted as we keep moving forward.

In solidarity,

The CPW-UAW bargaining committee