BARGAINING
Right now, our union is bargaining with the university in order to win a contract. Practically, this involves elected members of our bargaining team sitting down with representatives of the administration and negotiating proposals put forth by both sides. After nearly 6 months of bargaining, we have won very little. The university has tried to walkback hard-won protections from harassment and abuse, they have tried to restrict our ability to strike, they have parroted Trumpian language about international students who may be "felons," and they have deflected responsibility over retirement divestment. It took 5 months to get a wages proposal on the table, and the university has been unrepsonsive to these demands (you can find an explanation of the wages proposal here). This is where we stand: 5½ months, one tentative agreement on priority demands, and a dozen other proposals that have gone unresolved or undiscussed.
If you want to keep up with bargaining, a caucus of rank-and-file employees has a website that tracks the latest developments. There, you can find a helpful one-pager that breaks down the current progress on bargaining. You can sign-up for their newsletter and read their bargaining updates.
Union leadership has a bargaining center on their website where you find bargaining updates, track proposals, and learn about our initial demands.
