Aug 30 Bargaining Update

We completed our seventh bargaining session! We reached Tentative Agreements on THREE articles (Appointment Posting, Training, and Terminated or Canceled Appointments) and had a productive FULL day of bargaining. You can view the text on our bargaining tracker. Our next bargaining session is a half day session on September 14th. 

BIG win for 6th+ years

We reached a Tentative Agreement on Terminated or Canceled Appointments, which came with a MAJOR win. Grad workers in their 6th year and above will continue to receive pay even if a teaching or research appointment is unexpectedly canceled. This means that even if your initial appointment letter is for a certain number of years, your pay will be PROTECTED in the case of a terminated or canceled appointment, regardless of your year in your program.

Protections for our whole selves

We continued to fight for protections against unjust discipline and discharge in ALL aspects of our employment, including academic matters. Week after week, we’ve shown up to the table with countless testimonials and examples of how our roles as students and employees are inextricably linked. BC member Lawrence Chillrud (ECE) explained, “We have very concrete examples of workers who have been retaliated against through use of academic probation, threats of failing 590 placeholders, threats of pay cuts following academic probation.” However, Admin continued to assert: “In this moment, we are not agreeable to applying the just cause standard to academic matters, period.” Our demands are simple; we want our contract to reflect our reality. We’re disappointed in the Admin’s position, are they confused or being willfully ignorant?  

Thank you for your testimonials

While Admin references hypotheticals and thought experiments to support their counters, we can directly respond using facts and real examples thanks to YOUR testimonials. We have received and read countless testimonials covering grievance procedure, discipline and discharge, international student struggles, nondiscrimination, and the ambiguity of student/employee designation leading to issues in our work environment. Because of you, we present “arguments and testimonials with a passion commensurate to the degree of distress of employees in fraught positions of vulnerability” (BC member Kavi Chintam; ChBE). Your words are incredibly useful in showing Admin where current NU processes are failing and why we are advocating for this contract! We thank you for your bravery in stepping forward and welcome MORE perspectives. 

Get ENERGIZED for Fall Quarter

Check your inbox soon for a slew of NUGW-UE events in the upcoming school year to kick off an energizing Fall. Also join CAT in flyering campus (with donuts!) every Wednesday morning at 10am at Tech and the Rock so NU knows we mean business See you there!

Signed, The NUGW-UE Bargaining Committee: Alejandro Abisambra (Management and Organizations and Sociology), Jade Basinski (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Maddie Brucker (Computer Science & Learning Sciences), Lawrence Chillrud (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Peter Cummings (Clinical Psychology), Adam Goldsmith (Communication Studies), Jack Hamill (Music), Reem Ibrahim (Interdepartmental Neuroscience), Lauren Johnson (English), Cataldo Lamarca (Materials Science and Engineering), Elisabeth Latawiec (Chemistry), Thomas McKenzie-Smith (Physics and Astronomy), Behailu Mihirete (Communication Studies), Ben Oxley (Chemistry), Summer Pappachen (Political Science), Sebastian Poblete (Economics), Andrew Poverman (Physics and Astronomy), Adrian Ray-Avalani (Linguistics), Jakob Reinke (Materials Science and Engineering), Mounica Sreesai (Anthropology), Drew Weidner (Chemical and Biological Engineering), Teke Wiggin (Sociology), Ruoxi Zhu (Electrical and Computer Engineering), Kavi Chintam (Chemical and Biological Engineering), Esther (Em) Kamm (History)