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

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