Observers outside yesterday’s bargaining session
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On Tuesday, May 6, we held our first in-person bargaining session with WCM. WCM presented their own package proposal in response to the comprehensive package we gave them two weeks ago, in which we made significant movement towards WCM’s position in order to reach a fair contract as quickly as possible. While WCM made more progress in Tuesday’s session than they have in months, their response was still far from sufficient to ensure stability during this challenging time for all WCM researchers. You can read WCM’s response on our online bargaining tracker.
WCM made progress in two key areas during the session. First, we were pleased that after nearly a year of bargaining, WCM finally agreed to withdraw their demand for a probationary period. This comes after many months of sustained organizing from our community against unfair terminations, which would disproportionately impact those of us on visas. In terms of economic proposals, WCM finally agreed to provide a limited form of visa renewal leave, proposing 5 days off per year for a postdoc or family member to renew their visa. This provision is essential for our largely international workforce. However, WCM continued to reject language in our proposal that would ensure postdocs receive a reasonable number of days for visa renewal, rather than a fixed number of days.
We were also frustrated to see WCM continue to reject other key provisions, including retroactive pay, preserving morning shuttle service from RI, immediate access to parental leave for new parents, capping annual rent increases at 2% for WCM housing, and increasing transparency in their housing process. They also rejected outright our proposals for an Emergency Support Fund and Relocation Assistance, despite the fact that both Sinai and Columbia postdocs have access to equivalent benefits. WCM also continued to insist on going backwards by dramatically lengthening the timeline for addressing sexual harassment complaints.
Finally, WCM continued to insist on a Force Majeure provision in our contract which would give them the ability to make unilateral changes to our contract in the event of economic or operational issues, such as funding cuts. We continued to express our concerns with this provision and made it clear that we can’t accept any clause that allows WCM to make unilateral changes to our contract.
We closed the session by reminding WCM that a majority of postdocs voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike if necessary because their offer was not sufficient, and that their current package still contains provisions that would be unacceptable to our unit.
While not enough, it’s clear the progress we made on Tuesday is the direct result of our strike vote. In order to continue making progress towards an agreement with WCM, it’s critical that we keep reminding them that reaching a fair agreement is crucial not only for our well-being, but for our ability to continue to do quality research and build our careers at WCM.
While we understand that these times are unprecedented for research institutions, our community of overwhelmingly international and early-career researchers are especially impacted by all the changes coming out of this administration, making our demands in this contract even more pressing and urgent. That is also why WCM postdocs have been actively fighting back against cuts to federal funding alongside tens of thousands of other unionized researchers across the country.
Please click here to RSVP for our next in-person bargaining sessions on May 12 and June 2, and please feel free to reach out to organizing@wcmpostdocunion.org with any questions.
In Solidarity,
Krithika Karthigeyan
WCMPU-UAW Bargaining Committee