Yesterday, our Bargaining Committee had our second negotiation session with the Einstein administration.
During the session, we discussed the Recognition article, which we had proposed in our first bargaining meeting on the 9th of September. We asked the administration if they had a response on the inclusion of Postdoctoral Fellows-NRSA. They reiterated their desire to exclude these fellows and said they would follow up with a counterproposal in the coming meetings. Postdocs funded by sources like the NRSA are included in every other postdoc union in the UAW across the country. We will continue to fight for the inclusion of all Postdoctoral Fellows regardless of funding source because we believe all of us deserve to be recognized in our contract.
We presented 18 non-economic articles related to our workplace rights, which would establish basic standards and protections that other unionized postdocs across the country have in their contracts, explaining the reasoning behind each proposal. You can read a summary of proposals passed during our session below and the full text of the proposals using our online bargaining tracker.
Einstein’s bargaining team did not have questions about our proposals during the session and informed us that they would require additional time to review the articles and make counter-proposals. We hope to see Einstein engage more with our proposals at our next meeting.
These proposals represent the demands that our Postdoctoral Fellow community has held for years, and yesterday, we finally had the opportunity to present them to Einstein as equals. We’re eager to see Einstein take concrete steps towards meeting our demands, with the goal of strengthening Einstein’s competitiveness as a workplace and making it more equitable and inclusive so we can create an environment where we can primarily focus on our research. It is essential that our working conditions reflect a standard we can all take pride in.
Finally, we want to thank the postdoc observers who attended our meeting yesterday for their support! Click here to RSVP for our next bargaining session on Thursday, October 10, 2024, from 1 PM to 3 PM ET (in person).
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts,
Michael Papanicolaou, Cell Biology
ERU-UAW Bargaining Committee
Summary of ERU-UAW Proposals:
Academic Freedom: would ensure the right for postdocs to express themselves freely and to guarantee freedom in the scientific development of their projects, which is the prerequisite for the cutting-edge science here at Einstein.
Appointment Security: would ensure that once Einstein has offered an appointment to a postdoc, they guarantee the position and conditions through the length of the appointment.
Appointments and Reappointments: would establish minimum appointment and reappointment lengths, timelines, and content for notifications of offers of appointment and description of assignments.
Discipline and Dismissal: would create a fair process for progressive discipline in the case that Einstein is contemplating disciplinary action.
Employment Records: would ensure access to and rights to ensure accuracy of our employment records.
Grievance and Arbitration: would create a process in which provisions in the contract can be enforced. This article would allow postdocs to take a grievance to a neutral third party if they were unable to reach a satisfactory resolution with Einstein.
Health and Safety: would ensure that all postdocs have a safe and comfortable workspace and an appropriate environment that will make postdocs more productive.
Intellectual Property: would give postdocs more rights related to authorship and what happens with research that we produce.
Job Posting: would give postdocs more rights related to authorship and what happens with research that we produce.
Prohibition Against Discrimination and Harassment: would ensure that Einstein is a safe and inclusive workplace that protects all Postdoctoral Fellows from discrimination and harassment and promotes diversity and equity in their workforce.
Severability: would protect the remainder of contract if one provision is declared unlawful and ensure our right to bargain over any impacts.
Successorship: would preserve our contract if ownership of Einstein is transferred.
Training: would ensure that postdocs are paid for all time spent at trainings.
Union Rights and Access: would provide the Union with the necessary information and access to the workplace to ensure that members of the bargaining unit are represented.
Union Security: would ensure that postdocs contribute equally to the cost of representation.
Union-Management Committee: creates a joint committee to meet regularly during the life of the contract on matters related to our contract.
Workload: guarantees that the work schedule will be reasonable, related to research needs, and agreed upon with the postdoc.
Workspace and Materials: would ensure that Einstein provides space, materials, equipment, and facilities necessary for postdocs to perform our work.