This past Tuesday, our bargaining committee had our fifth negotiation session with the Einstein administration. You can RSVP for future sessions here.
Key Developments:
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We reached our second tentative agreement with the Einstein administration on the Union-Management Committee article, which creates a joint committee that will meet regularly during the life of our agreement to discuss matters related to the contract.
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Einstein’s bargaining team presented their first counter proposal on Discipline and Dismissal, as well as a counter proposal on Grievance and Arbitration.
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Our committee presented counter proposals on each of the articles Einstein countered in our last session: Employment Records, Job Posting, Union Rights and Access, Union Security, Workload, and Workplace and Materials.
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Einstein’s team asked to postpone our next session due to challenges related to their team members’ schedules.
Regarding specific articles:
Einstein’s bargaining team opened the meeting by presenting their counter proposals. We were disappointed to find that they crossed out most of the language in our Discipline and Dismissal proposal, which aims to protect postdocs against unjust disciplinary actions and establish a fair and transparent disciplinary procedure. The administration’s team agreed that a postdoc should not be disciplined except for “just cause” and that discipline should only be implemented in progressive stages.
We spent the rest of the session exchanging questions on the other counter proposals and had to end the session more than 15 minutes over time. We made sure to dedicate ample time to question their counterproposal on Grievance and Arbitration, asking why the administration continues to resist language that would make the grievance process more efficient through basic provisions that other unionized postdocs in NYC already have. On Workplace and Materials, we pushed back against Einstein’s effort to exclude rights to workplace accommodations for postdocs with disabilities from our contract.
Einstein’s team asked to postpone our November 25th session due to issues related to their team members’ schedules. The administration’s team has yet to respond to five of our proposals, including Non-Discrimination and Harassment, Appointment Security, Appointments and Reappointments, Intellectual Property, and Recognition, which we proposed in the first session in early September. You can read the full text of our proposals in the bargaining tracker on our website and follow us on social media for more updates.
We have also started to establish working groups to provide support with the bargaining process. These groups will stay in regular contact with the bargaining committee in order to assist with research, give feedback on proposals, and drive issue-based campaigns that add to our leverage at the bargaining table. Click here to sign up for a working group!
Einstein’s team has agreed to the following dates and times for our upcoming bargaining sessions, which will be on Zoom. You can RSVP here to attend.
December 5 (Thursday), 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm
December 19 (Thursday), 1 pm to 4 pm
Please let us know if you have any thoughts or questions.
In Solidarity,
Paulina Alatriste González, Cell Biology
ERU-UAW Bargaining Committee