Bargaining Committee Vacancy Election

At yesterday’s membership meeting we announced that the UAW International Executive Board approved our Amalgamation with SPOC (the union of postdocs at Mt. Sinai). Our Local 4100 is now officially a multi-unit local, meaning our membership and power is growing!

💫🧾Establishing the governance of our Union: Our Local Bylaws

As part of the process of amalgamation we need to update our local bylaws to define the operation of our local as an amalgamated union, and create new structures in which members of both units will democratically decide our actions and priorities as a union. 

• Bylaws committee meetings will be at least weekly, and are open to all union members! – Become a member here online!
• Proposed changes will be posted for a for members to submit feedback
• The bylaws will be presented at a membership meeting
• In the subsequent membership meeting members will vote to accept or reject the updated bylaws. 
• When approved we will establish the structure and rules governing our union Local!
• Our bylaws committee members are: 

The first Bylaws meeting will be next Friday 03/01 at 5pm – if you want to propose any changes join by RSVPing here or email us at postdocunion@uaw4100.org

🙋A member proposed a change to our bylaws:

As per Art. 21 of our bylaws which allows for members to propose amendments to our bylaws, a member proposed adding  the following to our bylaws: “Statements made by the union as a whole must be approved by a majority of the union membership as distinct from a majority of those voting”.

• Now the bylaws committee will determine whether it is in accordance with the UAW Constitution and work with the member for any needed changes. If the proposal is edited, it will be re-proposed at a membership meeting. 
• At our March meeting the bylaws committee will report on the proposal. If the proposal is in accordance with the UAW Constitution, members will vote whether to accept or not that amendment.
• As per our bylaws in order for this change to be accepted it needs to be approved by a ⅔ majority of the members.

🗳️🎉The Elections Committee is seeking new members!

We have open positions for our Elections Committee! An excellent way to build your union without a huge time commitment. 

• At the March membership meeting members can accept nomination to serve in our elections committee and we all will vote on our new elections committee! 

Email John Christin (Postdoc in Medicine serving on our elections committee) at cpwuawelections@gmail.com  to learn more!

💪🔥Our working Groups are getting busy!

We also heard reports from some of the working groups and committees that work on specific topics, from fighting for new rights to enforcing our contract! 

If you’d like to join a Working Group (or just see how it works) sign up here! Members can also propose 

⚠️You need to accept or decline membership in your union to be employed as a postdoc or Associate researcher at Columbia University⚠️

Under our contract all Postdoc and Associate researchers must decide between signing up as a Union member and contributing membership dues or declining membership and paying “fair share” fees (Article 25). 

According to our records you have not fulfilled this requirement and are in violation of your contract. You can make your choice now in this link.

The benefits that postdocs and ARSs at Columbia receive from our collective bargaining agreement (our contract) are the result of our collective power and the effort of all of us building your union strong to defend the rights postdocs and ARSs!

Solidarity,

Your friendly local Executive Board and Organizing Committee

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

RSVP HERE for our monthly membership meeting – Thursday, 02/22 at 6:30 pm. 

As usual, we will be hybrid and on the two main campuses: 

• CUMC Room
• MS Room

⚠️ Membership Meeting Agenda – Key Topics ⚠️

• Bylaws Committee: We’ll introduce our new committee members responsible for drafting the new bylaws that we will have following the amalgamation with SPOC-Mt. Sinai. If you are interested in working on the bylaws, you can attend the bylaws committee meetings.

• Elections Committee: At the next month’s meeting we will take nominations and vote for new members of our elections committee. This committee oversees all elections that our Union runs and is a key part of how we function! At this month’s meeting we will discuss what are the roles and answer any questions in case you are interested to run. 

📣 Updates 📣

• Fellows Working Group: We will have a new report from the working group responsible for ensuring that fellows are treated equally by CU. Here’s a summary of the new rights we have won in our recent contract.
• Anti-Racism, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (ARDIEA) Working Group: We will also have a report from this working group developing ways to make academia a more diverse, equitable and supportive environment for all postdocs and ARSs. 
• Contract Enforcement: We will go over how our new Hardship Fund is being organized and enforced, as well as updates on the salary raises we have received since the new contract!
• Legal Counsel: As we discussed during our January meeting, we will be hiring a legal counsel to advise us during our bargaining with UAW Staff United (USU). We will have a new report on the counsel chosen and the financial details of it.

And bring any suggestions and questions!

Sincerely,

Your friendly local Executive Board and Organizing Committee

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

Throughout our contract campaign a majority of postdocs and ARSs at Columbia have become members. This has given us the collective power to win a contract securing $10k increase to the minimums + at least 3% increases per year, guaranteed; more workplace protections for Internationals, Fellows and a Hardship Fund to help you face unexpected financial hardships. And overall, we have strengthened our voice as researchers at Columbia!

JOIN THE MAJORITY AND BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

According to our records, you have not made a decision yet, follow the link above and accept or decline membership! Everyone covered by our contract has to choose between becoming a member or declining membership and paying fair-share fees! A majority of postdocs and ARSs at Columbia have already chosen to become members. Make your choice now!

New Year, New Contract – More Rights and Higher Salaries

It’s an exciting time for postdocs and ARSs at Columbia – we recently ratified our second contract, securing $10k increases to the minimums + 3% guaranteed increases per year. That is up to 24% increases through June 2026!, In addition, we won new protections against bullying, reimbursements for visa expenses, and a brand new hardship fund!

SEE ALL THE NEW CHANGES HERE

Reach us out at postdocunion@uaw4100.org if you did not get any of the promised benefits

These wins were built on collective power, meaning we all worked together during the last year to get where we are now. But obviously, this does not stop with just the contract campaign. We are now in the process of ensuring that Columbia University implements all these changes, including raises, visa cost reimbursements, and setting up the hardship fund. This means maintaining and building our power to continue building our union strong into the future, and using this power to enforce and fight for our rights. To do that, we need your help!

Membership Drive: Making Sure Everyone Contributes Equally

A key part of being a union is right there in the name: Unity. We are collectively representing almost 1,700 researchers at Columbia, all of whom have since November gotten higher salaries, more protections, and better rights. We will always work together like this, but it is important that EVERYONE contributes towards our goals of making this a better working place.

As a reminder, everyone covered by our contract has to choose between either becoming a member or declining membership and paying fair-share fees. Become a member today following this link!

Membership dues and fees are crucial to support our operations – to provide the resources that enable us to continue to represent all Postdoc/ARSs effectively by paying for negotiation, administration, and enforcement of our contract; legal representation, arbitration, research, and technical support; campaigns and related costs (such as events, legal fees, etc).

As a member you will have the right to participate in decisions about how we spend these economic resources. You only pay dues or fair share fees for the time you are employed as a Postdoc/ARS by Columbia.

The financial difference between membership or declining is small but the difference to our collective power is huge: ensuring a continued majority support for our union will give us more power to enforce our new rights and continue fighting for improvements.

Over the next weeks, union organizers will be contacting members, to check in and assist with any issues related to contract implementation, and to check in on membership. Note that it is a condition of employment that all Columbia employees covered by our contract choose to either sign up as a union member or decline membership and pay fair share fees to cover the cost of representation – so you must make a decision soon! Make your choice in this link.

We look forward to working with you all in this next exciting phase of our union, implementing our new contract and continuing to pursue campaigns that advocate for the rights that all postdocs and ARS’s deserve.

Sincerely,

Your friendly local Executive Board and Organizing Committee

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

Yesterday, we held a meeting to discuss and vote on whether to form an amalgamated local with our postdoc colleagues at Mt. Sinai (SPOC), who have recently secured their first union contract. 51 union members voted in the meeting, with the results being 49 YES, 1 NO, and 1 abstain – meaning that the membership vote has officially approved the motion to move forward to become an amalgamated union with Mt. Sinai!

To help us understand more about amalgamated unions, we were joined by colleagues in the amalgamated Local 7902, which covers academic workers at NYU and the New School about their experiences as part of an amalgamated union. 

Now that the membership has approved this motion, the next step involves submitting a petition to the International Executive Board (IEB) of UAW. As we discussed during the meeting, the amalgamation will include updating the organizational structures within our Local, including  creating a new Joint Council comprised of representatives from both CPW and SPOC. It will also necessitate amendments to our Local bylaws such that we can democratically decide and define how we operate as an amalgamated union. Importantly, these changes provide opportunities for any union member to actively participate in shaping our collective future – so keep an eye out for updates if you would be interested in joining the Joint Council and/or helping with the bylaws!

As the Executive Board of the union, we are excited about this new chapter for local 4100, and believe it will offer benefits to the stability and resources of our operation, which will both improve our capacities to pursue our goals for strengthening our union and protecting the rights of our workers here at Columbia, as well as offering exciting new opportunities to work with our colleagues and build collective power across institutions to advocate for the rights of postdocs and researchers all across academia. We would like to thank everyone for taking the time to consider and engage in this topic, and look forward to working with you all on this exciting new stage of our union!

In Solidarity,

CPW-UAW Executive Board

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

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This email is to remind you that on Thursday, January 18th at 6:30 pm we will have our dedicated membership meeting to discuss and vote on whether to create an amalgamated union by joining with the Mt. Sinai postdocs. This vote is regulated by the UAW Constitution and will be in person at this dedicated meeting, so attendance is encouraged. As the Executive Board of CPW 4100, we also want to express our support on amalgamating and our recommendation of a YES vote on the amalgamation vote.

Our recommendation on this vote is informed by our understanding of what is best for our local and our members here at Columbia, our history working with other union campaigns across the city, including at Mt. Sinai, and our broader goals for building collective power in academia and setting higher standards for postdocs and researchers across academia.

At the local level, we believe that becoming an amalgamated union will provide greater resources and operational stability for continuing as a self-sustaining local for a strong future. By having a larger membership and dues pool, and by sharing responsibilities for management of our organization (which takes up a great deal of the Executive Board’s time), becoming an amalgamated union puts us in a stronger position to support our day to day operations. Our experience thus far has emphasized to us the need for continuity in resources for organizing and bargaining, and that we always benefit from more postdocs willing to participate.

At the city level, since we formed the first postdoc union at a private university in 2020, NYC has become a hotbed for postdoctoral research unions. Throughout this process, Columbia Postdocs & ARSs have supported new campaigns in the city, including Mt. Sinai, who are now the second private university with a union contract for postdocs. Within and across our locals, we have run successful contract campaigns, unifying postdocs across campuses and fields of research, addressing our shared issues, and we will continue to do so. We have also seen how our employers coordinate – engaging the same tactics against us, which we learn from each other how to counter, and matching each other’s offers, such that a win for one of us is often a win for all of us – emphasizing our shared fights and the benefits of working together. It is through this history of collaboration and solidarity that we know we can work together productively in service of the shared goals of ensuring fair working environments for postdocs across the city.

Beyond New York City, academia is in an exciting time as workers are recognizing our rights and turning to unions to protect them. In considering what comes next, we are also acutely aware of the issues beyond the scope of any single employer that affect our day to day working lives – be it standards of academic training and mentorship, policies relating to fellowships and employment, or the availability of grant opportunities and funding policies. While these topics go beyond individual employers and contracts, they are issues that can begin to be tackled by continuing to develop and deploy collective power and resources through dedicated and sustained campaigns across the sector that work to demand and protect higher standards for all researchers and postdocs that we can better engage in as an amalgamated.

In making this recommendation, we also want to re-emphasize several key points:

• Where we see the benefits of the broader structure of an amalgamated, on the ground operations at Columbia will remain largely consistent, as we would maintain our own organizing committee, stewards, grievance process, meetings, and campaigns. All decisions that are specific to Columbia will be decided solely by Columbia postdocs and ARSs.
• Columbia and Mount Sinai postdocs/ARSs will continue to have separate contracts, each with their respective employer. This would not change anything about our current contracts. Future contracts will be negotiated independently by bargaining committees elected separately from each institution.
• In the case of an amalgamated union, we will update our bylaws to formalize the operation of the amalgamated and to ensure representation for all workers in the Local.

Collectively, we believe an amalgamated union offers the structure whereby our local campaigns and issues will be strengthened by the resources and stability of a larger structure, which will formalize our collaborations across the city, and contribute to the broader project of fighting for just employment for all researchers. It is with this in mind that we endorse a YES vote on the decision of whether to form an amalgamated union.We are looking forward to a vibrant discussion on Thursday about the pros and cons of amalgamation, and urge you all to participate. Please let us know what information you would find helpful in voting on this topic in advance of the January 18th meeting – you can share any questions or thoughts on this form and check our FAQs to learn more.

In Solidarity,

CPW-UAW Executive Board

On January 18th, at 6:30 pm we will have a special meeting – in person and zoom – to discuss and vote on the topic of amalgamating (merging) our local with the postdocs at Mt. Sinai. 

✅RSVP to attend the membership meeting on 01/18 @ 6:30pm! ✅

❓❓Have questions about amalgamation? Submit them HERE ❓❓

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

On January 18th, at 6:30 pm we will have a special meeting – in person and zoom – to discuss and vote on the topic of amalgamating (merging) our local with the postdocs at Mt. Sinai. 

✅RSVP to attend the membership meeting on 01/18 @ 6:30pm! ✅

❓❓Have questions about amalgamation? Submit them HERE ❓❓

The Topic:

Our colleagues at Mt Sinai have reached an agreement on their first contract, meaning they are now ready to formalize their union, and they have voted that they want to join us to form an amalgamated local. As was announced and discussed at our previous membership meeting, we now have the option of creating an amalgamated union – meaning a single union which includes workers from multiple different employers. Our meeting on the 18th will be to discuss this topic, and then take a vote.

An overview of amalgamating:

Some quick notes on what it would look like if we form an amalgamated union:

• Columbia postdocs/ARSs will maintain our own organizing and bargaining committees, and will negotiate our own contract which will still cover only workers at Columbia.
• In forming the amalgamated union, we would update our bylaws to amend and decide on any new rules for how the union operates. In terms of daily operations, it will still be Columbia members who manage our daily operations (organizing, bargaining, grievances) and any decisions related to our members and employer.
• The amalgamated union would have a single Executive Board, who oversee the overall union, in terms of topics such as finances, staffing, etc. In addition to the Executive Board, the amalgamated union would form a joint council, which is made up of elected members, proportionally representing each component group. In terms of numbers, note that our contract covers approximately 1600 workers, whereas Sinai’s has approximately 500.
• Being a larger union with more members, and dues, the amalgamated unit would have greater resources for managing its operations and pursuing our goals.

Academic Organizing

The Columbia Postdoctoral Workers, UAW local 4100, is the first postdoc union at a private university in the US. In being the first, we had to create and define the path for being an organized union at our kind of employer and learn how to create a new local. Following our lead, Mt. Sinai is now the second private university with a union contract for postdocs. We have been working with and supporting the Mt. Sinai postdoctoral workers in their union campaign, and will continue to do so. At this exciting junction in academic organizing, we now face the question of how to coordinate and organize sectoral power moving forward.

Questions, Comments, Concerns?

Have questions? Submit them HERE.

We welcome and encourage questions about this process and what it would mean to amalgamate, or what it would mean to choose not to. For logistical questions on this process, Brandon Mancilla, our regional director, and Reisy Veloz, our servicing representative (who were at our last membership meeting) are supporting us through this process. We have also reached out to members of other unions who are amalgamated to answer questions and give insight into their experiences in amalgamated unions. Please submit any questions HERE. We will collect all questions, solicit and organize answers, and make all of this available to all members prior to the January 18th meeting.

The Vote:

In practice, whether to amalgamate will be decided by a vote of the membership from both our union and postdocs at Mt. Sinai. If a majority of voting members vote YES to becoming an amalgamated, we will proceed with amalgamating. If the result is no we continue as a single-employer union, and Mt. Sinai will form their own separate and independent local.

Wrap Up & Forthcoming Follow Ups

We hope everyone gets a chance to engage in this topic and vote on this important issue for the future of our union. As members of the executive board, and organizers, we have been discussing the topic of amalgamating and what it would mean for our local, as well as discussing this with our colleagues at Mt. Sinai. We will follow up with more information as well as our thoughts on this process soon!

In solidarity,

Executive & Organizing Committees

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

Reminders:

• Tonight: Morningside 🥳 Winter Social 🎉 Tuesday Dec 12th, 5pm onwards in Fairchild Room 700 [RSVP LINK]. Join to celebrate, meet the new officers, eat, drink and enjoy some time with fellow union members.
• Our December Membership Meeting will be Thursday Dec 14th @ 6:30 pm! We will decide on creating a combined union (“amalgamated”) of postdocs with Mount Sinai. Brandon Mancilla, our Regional Director, will join for the discussion [RSVP LINK]
• Our CUMC Winter Social is Monday Dec 18th @ 5pm onwards in P&S 12-460 [RSVP LINK].
• Join Mount Sinai Postdoc’s strike [LINK] picket lines in solidarity, 9am to 5pm daily on Madison Ave between 99th and 100th Streets.

Steward Election Results

The deadline to accept steward nominations closed last Monday, December 11th at 11:59 PM EST. All positions were unopposed, we can announce the following winners of their districts by acclamation:

Manhattanville: Isabel Low

MS 1: Martin Lockman

MS 2: Jatan Buch and Luca Kolibius

CUMC 1: Oakley Olson and Syed Bukhari

CUMC 2: Brian Joseph and Genevieve Dobihal

CUMC 3: Laura Xicota

CUMC 4: Anna Yoney

CUMC 6: Sergey Pampou and Josue Navarro

CUMC 7: Marco Miotto and Rachel Gonzalez

Executive Board Election Results

The deadline to accept executive board nominations also closed last Monday, December 11th at 11:59 PM EST. All positions were unopposed, we can announce the following winners of their positions by acclamation:

President: Cora Bergantinos-Crespo

Vice President: Thomas Donoghue

Financial Secretary: Thiago Arzua

Trustee: Conor Bacon

Trustee: Elsy El Khoury

Sergeant at Arms: Panos Oikonomou

Guide: Sherida de Leeuw

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Elections Committee

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

Key scheduling points:

• Join Mount Sinai Postdoc’s strike picket lines in solidarity, 9am to 5pm daily on Madison Ave between 99th and 100th Streets. Today, we are attending at noon! Reply to this email if you can join and donate to their strike hardship fund.
• Our Morningside Winter Social is Dec 12th, 5pm onwards in Fairchild Room 700 >> RSVP
• Our December membership meeting will be Dec 14th @ 6:30 pm! Agenda & info below! >> RSVP
• Our CUMC Social is Dec 18th @ 5pm onwards in P&S 12-460 >> RSVP

Here are some key items for the membership meeting agenda:

Discussing the potential amalgamation with the Mt. Sinai postdocs:

• Columbia Postdocs have supported Mount Sinai postdocs while they were forming a union, and our campaigns have coordinated closely on our contract campaigns.
• Mt. Sinai postdocs (SPOC) continue to bargain their first contract and are currently ON STRIKE!
• Once they have a contract, they will formalize their union. Our region (UAW 9A) has asked that we consider joining together with SPOC to create a combined (‘amalgamated’) union of postdocs.
• We will discuss and vote on this topic – here are some details on this process.

Contract Implementation: Updates on raises and lump sum payments

• New Committees: Forming new committees to help with setting up the Hardship Fund, representing International Workers Issues, Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, and additionally a Civil and Human Rights committee. Sign up here if you are interested!

A financial motion to hire legal counsel to help with negotiating a contract with our Local’s staff:

• As previously mentioned, our staff member is part of a union representing other UAW international and local staff. Bargaining is ongoing (see demands HERE), for a contract that will cover our Local’s staff, meaning our Local is on the ‘management’ side of this process.
• This bargaining process requires time & resources. We can hire legal counsel to assist with this, which would cost ~$300/hour, likely for several hours per month.

Our Union Local has ongoing elections! Don’t forget to nominate yourself for steward and Executive board positions. The deadline is Monday December 11th 11:59pm. Check here for more details.

Come join your union colleagues to celebrate the season and our recently won contract with some fun and camaraderie! At two different locations:

Morningside Campus – Fairchild, Room 700 – Tuesday Dec 12th

CUMC Campus – P&S, Room 12-460 – Monday Dec 18th

Both from 5pm onwards!

RSVP HERE!

In solidarity,

Executive & Organizing Committees

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

Thanks to our collective efforts we have a new 3 year union contract! What happens now? In this email we will overview what is happening, what happens next, contract implementation, campaigning for ongoing topics, and our current membership drive! 

🗓️💫First, a quick update on things happening this month:

• Our December membership meeting will be Dec 14th @ 6:30 pm! A key agenda item will be discussing the potential amalgamation with the Mt. Sinai postdocs!
• Save the date for our winter socials – December 12th on Morningside campus & December 18th at CUIMC!
• Union local elections ongoing! Check here for more details

🏆🎉Key Victories Of Our Union Contract

There are numerous victories in our contract, please read through to make sure you have access to all the benefits. Here some highlights and information about implementation: 

⏳Status:

• Signing bonus of $1200 – all current employees should already have received this in your latest paycheck! If you are missing this payment write to postdocunion@uaw4100.org
• Salary raises: effective as of November 1st – but have not yet been processed by HR. You should see these updated in your paychecks of December 15 or December31/January 1, with backpay to Nov 1st. 
• Improved rights for fellows: If you are interested in this topic sign up to the Fellows working group. 
• International employees: this benefit is in effect! If you are traveling for visa reasons, reach your department HR and email us at postdocunion@uaw4100.org if you want some help.
• Hardship fund: will be available as of January 1st, 2024. Some members interested in discussing which regulations we want in place will meet on Monday at noon RSVP or send us feedback here.

✊The Fight Continues For Future Improvements  

Our union, as all unions, is an organization focused on ongoing support and campaigns to further rights, at the bargaining table and as well as outside it. The fight for better working conditions continues through assertive contract enforcement and continued organizing on topics, like childcare, back payments or the housing stipend. Sign up in our working groups if you are interested in organizing around these topics (or propose any other).

Columbia did not want to commit central money for our contract implementation, but the faculty at Columbia is circulating this letter requesting them to do so. We want to continue supporting this fight for more institutional support from Columbia to its core missions! Email us at postodocunion@uaw4100.org if you want to help.

💥Join the majority and support your union by becoming a member!💥

Throughout our contract campaign a majority of postdocs and ARSs have chosen to become union members which gave us the power to win all these improvements. Growing our membership even more will help a robust contract implementation, campaigning on additional topics, and building strength for future contracts

Sign up here to become a member and join the majority of us building a better Columbia for all postdocs and ARSs

(to decline membership you are required to indicate in the same link and contribute a comparable fair share fee for all of us to share the cost of negotiations and representation) 

These are some of the perks of union membership:  

📣1.- enables us to have a powerful voice as Postdocs and ARSs at Columbia and beyond. Our collective power demonstrated that when we advocate for our rights, we have the ability to protect ourselves and enforce our values.

🪧2.- makes our Union more democratic and inclusive, since membership gives you the right to take part in the Union’s governance through elections, working groups, committees and other processes, including and how to spend our financial resources. For your voice to be heard, it is in your best interest that you become a Union member. 
🌍3.- you will be joining a broader movement of postdocs and academic researchers who are unionizing across NYC and the country to improve conditions of researchers in academia.

Lasty, again these achievements reflect that when we work together to defend our rights, we win. We thank each and every one of you who talked to co-workers, attended rallies, pickets, bargaining sessions and overall for the strong solidarity across disciplines, departments, campuses… Together, we have achieved significant improvements not only for us at Columbia but also set the bar for other postdocs in the city on the path of unionization (like Cornell, Mt. Sinai, Princeton, NYU). 

As aforementioned, the fight goes on. Keep an eye out for further updates, so you can have an impact in the processes of attaining our demands!

Together, we are stronger.

In solidarity,

Bargaining & Organizing Committees 

HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

November 27, 2023

Nominations are hereby declared open on November 27, 2023 for the CPW-UAW Steward [17 positions], President, Vicepresident , Financial Secretary, Trustee [2], Seargant at Arms and Guide in the Executive Board [7 position]:

Stewards (17 positions):

• Click here to see the open positions per district.

Executive Board (7 position):

• President
• Vice President
• Financial Secretary
• Trustee
• Trustee
• Sergeant at Arms
• Guide

All unit members having signed a CPW-UAW membership card and meeting the eligibility criteria, as outlined in Article 15 of the CPW-UAW Local 4100 bylaws, are automatically considered nominees for positions on the Executive Board and as stewards in their respective districts. In accordance with the bylaws, eligibility requirements for candidates are as follows: candidates for the Executive Board must have maintained continuous good standing for a period of one (1) year preceding the acceptance of nomination, while candidates for the steward position must have maintained continuous good standing for a period of ninety (90) days prior to accepting nomination.

Membership Eligibility Description (per the bylaws): 

Membership in this Local Union shall be extended to all employees who have at any time been under titles that come under the jurisdiction of this Local Union. Membership shall be defined as members in good standing as defined in the International Constitution. 

CPW-UAW has 24 steward positions, broken up into districts. For this election there are 17 open steward positions and 7 open executive board positions. Each district is a campus, building/s, or lab where postdoctoral academic workers are working. For every 75 workers in a district, one steward will be elected. To learn more about the responsibilities of the stewards, visit the UAW constitution (Article 45) and our Local Bylaws (Article 10). 

Any eligible member in good standing who wishes to accept the nomination for one of the Executive board or steward positions in their district must indicate their intention, in writing, including the position they wish to run for. You can only run for one position. The acceptance of your nomination in writing must be submitted no later than December 11th 11:59pm EST. Submit your acceptance to the CPW-UAW Elections committee by emailing cpwuawelections@gmail.com. If you have questions about which district you belong to, please reach out to the Elections committee at cpwuawelections@gmail.com. 

Steward District Map 

Click here to view the District Map, which shows the breakdown of the number of stewards per Steward District. 

Positions on the Executive Board

The Executive Board positions are elected for a term expiring in November 2026. Officers are allowed to vacate their positions before the end of their terms, in which case the Elections Committee would hold a vacancy election. Click here to read more about the responsibilities of the Executive Board Officer positions.

Candidate Statements (Optional)

Each candidate may write and submit a candidate statement of no more than 250 words. These statements will be posted on the CPW-UAW website if there are contested elections. Your mailing address, phone number, and personal email address must be included, but will not be counted toward the 250 words. 

It is the responsibility of the candidate to submit the candidate statement, if they choose to have one. All candidate statements must be received by the time nominations close on December 11th at 11:59pm EST.

Candidates Meeting 

Following the close of nominations, all candidates in contested districts will meet with the Elections Committee via Zoom. This meeting will determine the order of names on the ballot and the method of mass communications, and address other concerns any candidate may have. This meeting will take place following the close of nominations, but before ballots are sent to members. 

Election Dates, Times and Locations

In the event that the number of eligible candidates who accept nomination for the specified position do not exceed the number of vacant positions, such candidates will be deemed elected by acclamation and no election will be held. 

If there are contested positions, elections will take place online from January 8th to January 12th . If you are a member of the union, you will receive a ballot in your email and text messages once voting begins. If you wish to participate, you will need to sign a membership card and join the union. 

• Election Location: Online
• Election Start Date: Monday, January 8th at 9:00am EST
• Election End Date: Friday, January 12th at 11:59pm EST

A runoff election, if necessary, will be held at a future date. The details will be announced if necessary. 

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