2019-2020 Contract Negotiations

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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

Join us on Friday, March 20 to discuss how COVID-19 is affecting researchers.

With the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak only becoming more critical, we are converting our planned online town hall into a space to discuss how the crisis is affecting researchers, bargaining and what we can do as a union to support each other and the broader community. We will also give an update on how the evolving situation may affect our ongoing campaign for a fair contract.

If you have not yet, please take a minute fill out a short survey in regards to how you have been affected by COVID19 so our elected bargaining committee can have a better understanding of how researchers are being impacted.  

Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Online Town Hall this Friday:

RSVP for our Online Town Hall on Friday March 20th from 1:00-2:00pm.

With only three more weeks to go we encourage all PARs to participate in our campaign to secure a strong first contract. Please join members of the CPW-UAW organizing committee for an online town hall on where negotiations stand and how you and your coworkers can help. You can join from your computer if you want to follow along with the presentation or from your phone if you would just like to listen.

Take our COVID-19 Survey:

We were relieved to hear that Columbia has moved to significantly reduce the research operations during the COVID19 outbreak. In order for our elected bargaining team to have a better understanding of how researchers are being affected by the virus, please take a few minutes to fill out our short survey.

Our Letter to the Board of Trustees:

We also remain firmly committed to completing negotiations for our first contract by April 6. As we enter the last few weeks of negotiating our first contact we want to make sure that all Postdoctoral Researchers and Associate Research Scientists (PARs) are informed on where negotiations stand and are able to help move Columbia to agree to a fair contract. On Friday March 13th, 2020 our elected bargaining committee sent this letter to the Columbia Board of Trustees to communicate our willingness to continue to bargain a fair agreement, either in person or virtually.

We hope you can make it our town hall and please do let us know how you are being affected by the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

As the situation with COVID19 continues to develop, we are committed to working toward the safety and wellbeing of all members of our campus and wider community. We have been encouraged by Columbia’s efforts to address the concerns of students and the public. We hope that the administration will take further steps to ensure the safety of research staff and other members of the Columbia community as the situation continues to evolve.

We would like to hear any concerns you may have about the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on your work. If you have been affected by COVID19 in regards to travel, work authorization, childcare, or unexpected changes to your working schedule please click here to let us know.

We also remain firmly committed to completing negotiations for our first contract by April 6. Unfortunately, Columbia has so far been evasive about its shared commitment to reaching an agreement in the next month. In a recent bargaining session with Columbia we reiterated our willingness to bargain twice per week through the month of March to maximize our ability to reach a full agreement. While reacting positively, Columbia did not accept our proposal, instead communicating publicly on March 2 that “Going forward, we will begin meeting twice a week as we resolve remaining issues.” So far, however, the Columbia team has only agreed to meet once per week.  

We will continue to work to hold them accountable to their commitment to put in the necessary time, energy and work to reach a fair agreement by April 6th.

In the meantime, please let us know if you can make it to our next bargaining session this Wednesday, March 18th at 9:30am. While you do not need to stay for the whole time, attending bargaining sessions this month is an important way to urge Columbia to make progress as we approach April 6.

Upcoming bargaining sessions:

March 18th 9:30 am-1 pm at CUIMC, Hammer LL10

Monday, March 23 from 1:30 pm-5:00 pm at CUIMC, Hammer LL106

Friday, April 3 from 1:30-5:00 pm at Studebaker, room 469

Tuesday, April 7 from 9:30-1:00 pm at CUIMC, Hammer LL106

Best,

CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

With roughly four weeks to go before our April 6 deadline, we had another somewhat productive bargaining session yesterday. We reached two new tentative agreements (which would establish protections against retaliation for pursuing complaints related to the University’s Copyright, Intellectual Property, and Research Integrity policies) and made some limited new progress in our ongoing discussions on Grievance and Arbitration, Appointments and Union Rights and Access.  

As we move closer to our deadline, we have many issues to resolve but remain confident we can reach a fair agreement by April 6—as long as Columbia moves more quickly. The University provided no new proposals on our economic priorities yesterday, which was disappointing. We did make some progress on a few of the core provisions that will enable us to have a strong union during the life of our first contract. We – the Bargaining Committee and researchers across Columbia – will need to continue making clear to this administration that we want and deserve a contract that reflects the tremendous value we bring to this institution and establishes robust rights and protections that will help establish a more inclusive research community. See below for more details on the last session.

Grievance and Arbitration—Columbia made an important move by making the process shorter. But the University still has a number of provisions that do not exist in any other contracts at Columbia, that would make it more tedious and difficult to efficiently enforce rights when we have disagreements under the contract. This is arguably the most important article in the contract and we intend to continue fighting to have an efficient, fair process for addressing grievances.

Appointments—We have modified our proposal to seek one-year appointments, with reasonable efforts to provide advanced notification of renewal and non-renewal. Our proposal also includes stipulations for standardizing appointment letters so that new Postdocs have a clear understanding of their new position and accessible support in their new role.

Union Rights and Access—Columbia made a new proposal on this topic for the first time in months, a positive sign in itself, but the proposal still falls far short of what we can agree to. They offered for the first time to provide a list of the bargaining unit to the union on a regular basis, but the proposal has major flaws. Their proposal also continues to lack any provision of union access to orientations so that new researchers can learn about their rights under our contract when they start work at Columbia—this basic provision exists for most other workers at Columbia and will enable us to have the strongest possible union over time.

Tentative agreement on Copyright and Intellectual Property and on Research Integrity—In these two tentative agreements, we agreed to codify coverage and rights under the University’s policies and procedures in this area. While disputes in these areas will continue to be taken up under existing policies, we negotiated a new protection against retaliation for raising complaints or otherwise participating in any of these procedures. We also agreed that the Union-Management Committee may discuss the topic of how to address authorship disputes.Our next session is Wednesday, March 18th, 9:30am-1pm in Hammer Building Room LL106—please rsvp here if you would like to attend.

Best,

The CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Please share your thoughts on bullying, harassment and discrimination at Columbia.

In our last bargaining session on Thursday, we did not reach any new tentative agreements, but had more constructive discussion around Compensation, Appointments/Reappointments, Leaves, Vacation, Intellectual Property, Grievance and Arbitration and No Strikes. At this stage, we see every session as critical time to discuss our differences and to keep working toward a satisfactory agreement. But since we do still have a number of major differences, we have asked the administration team to commit substantial time to bargaining sessions in the coming weeks so that we have sufficient time to find a path to a fair agreement by April 6. Please stay tuned for ways Postdoc and Associate researchers can get involved to help us build momentum to reach a fair first contract.

We have another bargaining session scheduled for tomorrow, March 9, and will provide a more detailed update after that session. Please rsvp here if you would like to attend.

Best,

The CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee

Please click here to share your thoughts confidentially on why we need stronger protections on bullying, harasment and discrimination.

After more than one year of negotiations, we have reached agreement on some important topics that we believe will enhance life for Postdoc and Associate Researchers. But Columbia has still failed to agree to a full set of fair provisions addressing the core issues that motivated our overwhelming 68% majority vote to form our union. One example is stronger discrimination and harassment protections.

Postdocs and Associate Researchers (PARs) have made it clear throughout our entire campaign that we need stronger recourse against harassment, discrimination and bullying. Over the past year we have devoted countless hours to bargaining over this topic. Over 2500 PARs and graduate employees signed an open letter to Columbia demanding that the university make progress on this topic. Numerous union supporters have shared their personal experiences in bargaining sessions with the shortcomings of current procedures, and how the union can provide additional protections for researchers facing unfair treatment at work. We also know that researchers have communicated the importance of these issues in other university forums as well.

Columbia has made some important steps forward in our negotiations on such protections: agreeing that a researcher could take a grievance to a neutral arbitrator after exhausting the current process; and agreeing to form a campus-wide committee on bullying. But we still believe Columbia can and should do more to ensure a timely, effective set of protections against discrimination and harassment that can help establish a more inclusive research community.

As we continue working hard to reach a fair agreement by April 6th, your feedback and stories can help guide us during this critical time. Please share how you think stronger protections for Postdocs/ARS experiencing discrimination or bullying improve Columbia’s research mission.

Our next bargaining session is tomorrow, on Thursday, March 5th at 1:30pm-5pm in Studebaker 469. You do not need to stay for the whole time or arrive at the beginning, but please let us know if you plan to attend.

Click here to RSVP for our 28th bargaining session.

Best,

The CPW-UAW Bargaining Committee