Bargaining Committee Vacancy Election

Please click here if you are concerned about returning to work next week

Although the University has not announced a definite research ramp-up start date, we have heard numerous concerns from researchers who are expected to resume some amount of in-person work at Columbia next week, especially at CUIMC.

In our bargaining session today, university administrators said that while there is an evolving definition of what constitutes essential work in the context of city and state guidelines, the University wants any return to in-person work to be reasonable and voluntary.

Please click here if you are concerned about reporting to work next week and/or if you would like help addressing the situation.

Sincerely and in safe solidarity,

The CPW-UAW bargaining committee

Please Sign our Letter to the Admin Demanding a Fair Contract

We clearly need to send a stronger message to the Columbia administration to reach agreement on a fair contract.

The Columbia team came to our Thursday session with virtually no new proposals—even though more than a week had passed since we presented a substantial set of proposals intended to offer fair compromises and a pathway to an overall fair agreement. We deserve better.

Postdoc and Associate Researchers play a critical, front-line role carrying out the prestigious research that brings roughly $1 Billion per year into the University budget for our pay and benefits and the campus infrastructure. Now we do essential work on COVID-19 research and holding the critical aspects of research labs together amidst social distancing. Hundreds of us have stepped up to volunteer to help Columbia play a proactive role in taking on COVID-19 in one of its global epicenters. Many of us have also now taken time to reach out to Congress urging that they invest in Columbia and other research universities moving through and coming out of the COVID-19 crisis.  

In short, we play a central role in making Columbia research happen. Yet, Columbia continues to propose a contract that significantly undervalues our work and would make only limited improvements to our basic voice in the workplace and power to address discrimination, harassment and bullying.Despite the sparse overall response to our previous proposals, we did make some progress on the grievance procedure, as Columbia made a proposal that would help establish a more efficient process for resolving disputes under our contract. While a number of more major issues remain in the grievance and arbitration article, we continue to move closer to a satisfactory resolution on that topic.
Please help us send a strong message to the administration so they bring more to our next session.

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Tell Columbia to respect researchers by agreeing to a fair contract as we all take on COVID-19.

As a group, Columbia Postdocs and ARSs have stepped up to help fight this pandemic. In addition to working as essential employees maintaining research infrastructure, hundreds of us are studying the disease to understand transmission and treatment, organizing drives for PPE, coordinating childcare for frontline healthcare workers, and more.

However, in recent bargaining sessions, Columbia has used the crisis to justify withdrawing their previous economic proposal and articulated that researchers should not expect any economic improvements in the first year of the contract. They have also continued to reject provisions like protections against harassment that cost nothing.Our work is indispensable during this crisis. Click here to tell Columbia to recognize the value we bring to the university and negotiate a fair contract now: https://bit.ly/RespectResearchers

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Click here–write Congress now to protect Researchers and other Academic Workers.

Join us in sending a letter to congress with this pre-filled, customizable letter that makes advocating to congress for additional resources easy and fast.

Last week our elected bargaining committee sent a letter to Congressional representatives and Senators expressing the urgent need for Universities to be included in the fourth COVID-19 stimulus package. We are now asking you to join us in reaching out to your congressional representatives to ask them to provide crucial resources to research related agencies and institutions.

Across the country, UAW Academic Workers – from Columbia, to the University of Washington, to the University of California – are coming together to make our voices heard in Congress about the support we need to keep our universities and research thriving in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 shutdowns have impacted Columbia Postdocs and Associate Researchers in many ways, from campus closures that have halted research, disruptions to visa processing and promotion timelines, and lack of childcare options, strains placed on our families, and more.

Congress will be passing additional stimulus bills to help lessen the impacts of COVID-19, which is why your voice is needed now. Will you join the effort and take 5 minutes to write to your members of Congress to demand the following?:

1. Immediate financial support, including funding to allow continuity of critical research projects, for Universities to continue to employ all personnel until operations return to full speed.
2. Support for international students and scholars to ensure that all may remain safely in place and continue to work and study in the future.
3. Additional funding for financial aid so students can continue to have access to affordable instruction.

Click here to write to Congress now to protect Academic Workers.You can submit letters to your Member of Congress and Senators in just a few quick steps right here. We also encourage you to forward this email to your friends and colleagues. Let’s work together to protect academic workers now!

Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Compared to last week, when Columbia’s team withdrew proposed salary increases and accused us of wasting time during the COVID-19 crisis (even though hundreds of us have been volunteering to help address the crisis), we had a much more pleasant bargaining session on Wednesday.   We made a serious effort in this week’s session to find a viable pathway to a fair overall agreement, and hope the administration team comes back with a fair set of proposals next time. But that is up to the University administration.

Given the shrinking number of issues in dispute, the CPW-UAW committee gave Columbia three package proposals that cover all the outstanding bargaining topics. In a package proposal, we propose more moderate provisions in certain areas on the condition that the University agree to our priorities in other areas. We hope that by combining the topics into a small number of packages, our committee and the University can more efficiently reach a fair overall agreement that incorporates priorities for both sides.

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.

Package 1 includes Recognition, Appointments, Holidays, Vacation, Leaves, International Researcher Rights, and Professional Development. This package is the closest to overall agreement, with the most significant dispute remaining in the article covering paid parental leave. While we have made progress on establishing the right to additional paid parental leave, we still believe the University can and should do better on this issue that would advance gender equity.  

Package 2 includes Non-Discrimination, Grievance and Arbitration, Union Rights, Union Security, Management Rights, and No Strikes/No Lockouts. Our Non-Discrimination proposal is obviously a major priority for Postdoc and Associate Researchers, but so far the University has failed to adequately address some of the key concerns we have in this area around timeliness, access to representation and protection from retaliation, and bullying. The University has adamantly resisted policy changes that apply to a single group of employees. They proposed a University-wide working group, which would include Union representatives, to recommend new policies for the whole University addressing “potentially abusive or intimidating behavior.” Our package includes a version of this that requires the University to adopt these new policies. This package also includes all of the foundational articles that would establish our ability to have a strong, effective union and clarify the University’s rights during the life of our first contract.

Package 3 covers Compensation, as well as Health Insurance and other benefits. In this package, we made clear to Columbia that we would be willing to drop our original proposal to enhance benefits in a number of areas if we have agreement on fair compensation increase for all Postdocs, including Postdoctoral Research Fellows. We continue to believe that, given the unique funding structures for our positions, it does not make sense to apply the salary freeze to Postdocs and Associate Researchers. We will continue to fight for fair compensation that reflects the value we bring to this institution.Look out for opportunities to help send Columbia a message to finish a fair contract! If you are interested in helping or have feedback, contact us at columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com.

Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Read the CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee letter urging Congress to increase research funding

After several sessions where we believed we were building momentum toward agreement on a fair contract, Columbia has now moved backwards. The Columbia administration team started off our negotiations late last week by withdrawing the July 1, 2020, pay increases they proposed previously, which they said was necessary due to the University budget crisis created by COVID-19.

Their disturbing new proposal does maintain the new rates they previously proposed for July 2021, which would represent significant increases to minimum salaries a little over one year from now: 12.3% for Postdoctoral Research Fellows, 12.6% for Associate Researchers, and 13.9% for Postdoctoral Research Scientist/Scholars. But their proposal also still only makes partial progress on ensuring equal compensation for Postdoctoral Fellows and still does not offer any meaningful improvement for long term researchers.

We understand the COVID-19 crisis has created major administration concerns regarding the university budget. Just hours before giving us their regressive compensation proposal, Columbia officially announced a hiring and salary freeze for most employee groups. However, we also understand that the funding sources for Postdoc and Associate Researchers distinguish us from most other Columbia employees. For example, unlike most Columbia employees, salaries and stipends for most of us are funded directly by external grants and/or fellowships. Moreover, we also know that Columbia is currently joining most other major universities across the US to demand that the US Congress allocate huge increases in federal research funding, which would bring more, not less, money into Columbia’s research budget. Another important factor is that Columbia has already fallen behind other major NYC universities by 1-2 years in increasing minimum salaries for postdocs and ARSs. Overall, with external grants funding most of our salaries/stipends and NIH having already proposed increased minimums for 2020, it makes little sense to penalize us by not even catching up to minimums at our peer institutions.

Second, the University not only moved backwards on compensation, last week they took an increasingly aggressive tone on non-economic issues as well and even threatened to take more money off the table if we do not reach agreement quickly. For example, they articulated rigid positions on some of the core non-economic topics like our Grievance and Arbitration procedure and Non-Discrimination. Though we would also like to reach agreement quickly, we objected vociferously to this effort by the administration to leverage the current COVID-19 crisis to force us to compromise on non-economic issues of great import to Postdocs and Associate Researchers.  

This approach by university administrators, many of whom are totally out of touch with what we do on a daily basis, is highly objectionable. We will nevertheless keep working to find ways to reach an overall agreement that we believe is fair. We will bargain again this week and will report back.

We would be happy to hear your thoughts and feedback. Please reach out at columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com.

Also, many Postdocs and Associate Research Scientists have been submitting whiteboard testimonials to help contribute to the many voices of why we want a fair contract. Check out the examples and submit one of your own.

Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Follow the CPW-UAW FB Page as we fight to finish a fair contract!

After meeting again with the Columbia administration team last week, we have another brief update on COVID-19 issues, as well as our continued negotiations for our first contract. Our last bargaining session is summarized below.

COVID-19-related updates.

We had further discussion with the administration regarding the effects of COVID-19 on Postdoc and Associate Researchers. Since a number of researchers had raised concerns regarding recent Columbia communications regarding potential redeployment plans, we requested clarification on that topic.  

Columbia told us that, due in large part to the substantial numbers of volunteers, they did not envision a need for or have any plans to redeploy Postdoc and Associate Researchers. In response to concerns about health and safety of those who do volunteer, the University reiterated that they are working hard with the hospital to ensure that everyone has the necessary training and personal protective equipment. Related to some of our other questions, the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) urged all international researchers to contact their office for guidance on visa rules regarding volunteering. During the course of our conversation at the bargaining table, administrators on the University team expressed great gratitude for the number of volunteers who have been stepping up in recent weeks.

While we had a productive discussion of these issues, we want to remind all researchers to contact us immediately if you have any concerns related to the current COVID-19 crisis.

Latest bargaining update. We definitely felt we achieved a little momentum in our negotiations last week, which we hope to build on as we continue to work through what continue to be a number of significant differences on some of our core priority proposals.  

Most importantly, we finally started to make some new progress on some of the proposals that will help us establish and maintain a strong union beyond these contract negotiations. In particular, we made progress on Grievance and Arbitration and on Union Access and Rights. The Grievance and Arbitration article is one of the more important provisions in our negotiations since it lays out the process to enforce our rights under the contract, including access to a neutral arbitrator if necessary. Our Union Access and Rights article is important because it is one of the articles that can help ensure that the Union has relevant information and access to new employees, as well as resources, necessary for a strong and representative union. However, while the University made the most responsive proposals so far on these topics, they continue to propose certain unusual provisions that would place limitations on our ability to enforce our rights and represent ourselves that do not exist for the other unions at Columbia. We hope to make more progress on these topics this week.

We also had somewhat productive discussions on Professional Development. The University finally gave us a counterproposal on this topic and we moved closer to agreement on an article committing the University to maintain support for professional development programs, as well as establishing the right of researchers to develop an Individual Development Plan (IDP) with feedback from their supervisor and to receive at least one written performance review each year.  

We have bargaining sessions scheduled on Thursday and Friday this week and will keep you posted on our progress.

Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

The CPW-UAW bargaining committee continues working toward a fair agreement–see our latest bargaining update is below.  

We want to start by acknowledging all the Postdoc/Associate Researchers and many others across Columbia who continue to devote themselves to aiding our community through the COVID-19 crisis in numerous ways. Thank you. We also remind everyone to fill out our COVID-19 survey so we can continue to monitor and potentially help address related workplace challenges. As we all consider how to respond in this extraordinary time, and as the University increases redeployment plans, we encourage everyone to share thoughts and questions. If you have immediate concerns, please email us at columbiapostdocunion@gmail.com.

Bargaining update from April 1 and 3

We met twice last week with the Columbia administration bargaining team. Though we continued to make progress overall, the increasing magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis certainly adds new considerations for our negotiations and timeline. It is now clear, for example, that we will continue negotiating past April 6, so we have started scheduling more sessions deeper into April.  

While both sides are committed to continued negotiations, the administration team has increasingly started pointing to the crisis as a basis for taking a hard line on some recently discussed issues. They’re also hinting at future uncertainty regarding some of the economic issues involved in bargaining. We certainly share a strong desire to finish negotiations in a timely manner, but it will still take significant movement by Columbia on some of the core disputes.  

After last week, we are very close to finalizing our International Researchers article. We are also close to agreement on Appointments and have finalized language covering Vacation, both of which are contingent on resolving our Paid Leaves article as part of an ongoing package proposal. We also moved somewhat closer to agreement on Union Rights, though the University continues to propose that our union be treated differently than other unions on campus when it comes to access to resources to enable effective representation.

Overall, the administration’s approach continues to present some major obstacles to an overall agreement. For example:

• Though we finally had a somewhat meaningful discussion on Professional Development last week, the University has so far made no counter proposal on that topic, even though we made our original proposal more than six months ago.  
• The University has made no new counter proposals on Non-Discrimination in nearly four months, failing to address numerous core components of that article that would enhance researchers’ rights under our contract
• The University continues to propose grievance and arbitration procedures that would hinder our ability to enforce our rights efficiently and elevate the university’s over-reliance on outside lawyers
• At times, the University reverts to a dismissive approach to our proposals. For example, in response to our continued concerns about potential abusive use of short appointment offers, the University responded, “What are you going to do, turn down the job because it’s too short?” While this kind of condescending and dismissive attitude hinders productive bargaining conversations, it serves as a potent reminder of the very reason an overwhelming majority of us voted to unionize in the first place.
• The University also continues to evade providing basic information we requested one month ago that would enable us to more effectively evaluate their position on economic bargaining topics.

With your support behind us, we will continue to work through these challenges. Given that we have narrowed the overall number of disputes in recent sessions, we remain optimistic that we can reach a fair agreement in the near future. Let us know if you have any questions.Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

First, we want to give a shout out and thanks to all the Postdoc and Associate Researchers, as well as other members of our community, who are stepping up as volunteers to help with the COVID-19 crisis. The response to this crisis has been truly uplifting. See below for opportunities to get involved if you are interested.

Thanks also to everyone who has filled out the CPW-UAW COVID-19 Survey. Based on feedback from researchers across campus, we sent a letter communicating numerous concerns to the Columbia administration last week. We expect to continue discussing these and other concerns with the administration as the pandemic continues to evolve. In the immediate term, if you believe you are being required to report to work on campus in violation of the COVID-19 “essential research” guidelines, please fill out the CPW-UAW survey or email us.

Bargaining Update from 3/27/20

The bargaining committee continues working to bring the negotiations for our first contract to a successful conclusion. In our latest bargaining session on Friday, we made some more progress in a number of areas. Columbia’s increasing willingness to find common ground has been encouraging in recent sessions, but they will still need to increase their pace even more in order to achieve our goal of reaching a fair agreement in a timely manner.

In Friday’s session, we made meaningful progress on roughly a half dozen contract articles. We are very close to agreement on language covering Union Recognition and International Researcher Rights. We also moved closer to agreement on Appointments and Vacation, which would ultimately be contingent on reaching agreement on our package proposal also covering paid family and other leaves of absence. Finally, we started making more progress on proposals covering Union Rights and Grievance and Arbitration, key provisions that would enable researchers to maintain a strong and effective union during the life of our first contract—but Columbia still needs to move much farther toward fair agreements in this area.

While we are making increasing progress overall, Columbia’s team is still moving slowly on many of the core issues and other aspects of the negotiations that hinder the pace of progress. For example, they have failed thus far to provide any response to an important request for information we submitted in early March that would enable us to more adequately evaluate the University position on a number of our proposals covering economic benefits. They have also failed to offer any counter proposal to our proposal covering Professional Development, even though we made this proposal more than six months ago.  

We have more sessions scheduled this week. Thanks to all the researchers who have recently written to our elected representatives in Congress asking for their support in our efforts to win a fair agreement. Click here to sign up for other opportunities to help us win a fair contract!

COVID-19 Related Volunteer Opportunities

Currently, there is an effort to coordinate Postdoctoral and Associate Research Scientist who would like to volunteer with COVID-19 related efforts. The Columbia Researchers Against COVID-19 (The CRAC Team) was formed to coordinate connecting volunteers with a number of research groups, and projects to suit their interests and abilities. Please sign up here if you are interested.

There are also current efforts to try and help facilitate childcare (babysitters) for front line healthcare workers at Columbia during this crisis. They are not specifically looking for students/postdocs – anyone in the community is also welcome – though they are hoping to start with people with experience they can back up with a reference. Positions will be based on geographic location to minimize travel and cost.

If anyone is interested, or knows anyone who would be interested, please fill out this link.

Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Thanks to everyone who has filled out the CPW-UAW survey on the impact of COVID-19 in our workplace. The feedback suggests that, overall, researchers and the Columbia administration have moved swiftly to adapt to the rapidly-evolving and unprecedented conditions created by the pandemic. It has been very encouraging, for example, to see how many members of our research community have stepped up to offer various types of help in addressing the crisis. One such response being organized is to support front line healthcare workers with childcare. Please see the bottom of the email if you are in a position to offer support.

We have nevertheless communicated and had a productive initial conversation with the administration about some concerns that have been raised regarding potentially uneven implementation of some of the health and safety protocols. We reiterated that the administration more clearly reaffirm protocols regarding what constitutes essential services, remind supervisors of the right of individual researchers to freely articulate concerns regarding their own health and safety, and to communicate any specific available information regarding potential threats of exposure in areas of the campus community. We expect to have further discussion of these matters. And if you believe you have had expectations placed upon you that endanger health and safety, please contact us immediately.

BARGAINING UPDATE

In other news, we have worked out a schedule to continue negotiations toward our first contract in this new environment. Though bargaining remotely presents new challenges, we have continued to make progress and remain hopeful that we can reach a fair agreement in a timely manner.  

In our most recent sessions, we moved closer to agreement on proposals regarding International Researcher Rights, Appointments, Vacation, Grievance and Arbitration, Union Recognition and Union Rights and Access. We still have many issues to resolve, but we have now agreed on a busy schedule of sessions between now and April 7 that we believe improves the opportunity to reach agreement.

More than anything, Columbia needs to demonstrate more willingness to reach agreement on our core outstanding issues. We have made clear that we are willing to make practical compromises in a number of areas if Columbia will agree to reasonable provisions on core provisions like Non-Discrimination, full equity for Postdoctoral Research Fellows, fair and competitive pay increases for all researchers—including ling term employees, and the set of provisions that will enable is to maintain an effective union moving into the future.  

Our next session is on Friday. We will report back again after that session.

CHILDCARE FOR FRONTLINE WORKERS

There are current efforts to try and help facilitate childcare (babysitters) for front line healthcare workers at Columbia during this crisis. They are not specifically looking for students/postdocs – anyone in the community is also welcome – though they are hoping to start with people with experience they can back up with a reference.

If anyone is interested, or knows anyone who would be interested, please e-mail Melissa at mmc2259@cumc.columbia.edu with the following information:

• your name and contact info

• a reference and their contact info

• your general neighborhood

Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee