November 01 Bargaining Update

Today, we completed our eleventh bargaining session! We reached Tentative Agreements (TAs) on Union Security, Non-Discrimination, Management Rights, and No Strike, No Lockout. You can view the text on our bargaining tracker. Our next bargaining session is a FULL DAY session on November 14th.

WE PACKED THE HALLS, WE GOT RESULTS

Pat yourself on the back because you stole the show today! Grad workers from across campus lined the hallways outside of TGS Commons as Admin arrived for negotiations. The chants and your spirits were enigmatic and inspiring! The Admin could not get a word in and looked visibly annoyed. NU’s lawyer even asked, “Are we gonna bargain today, or are we gonna do ~this~?” Well, as shown by our results today, we can and will do both!!! Our organizing power IS our bargaining power, and today was a prime example of that. Check out our socials for pictures and videos from this exciting action!

AGENCY SHOP, ‘TIL WE DROP! 

After months of mobilizing membership on the importance of universal membership and showing our collective strength, we have successfully won AGENCY SHOP! This is a HUGE, momentous win, not just for our union, but for grad worker unions around the country (some BC members cried!). With agency shop, all bargaining unit members are automatically dues-paying union members unless they pay an “agency fee” equivalent to the dues amount (all dues are still ultimately for our union). Agency shop is the foundation of a united and strong union and sets us up to win even bigger in our next contract!

BIG WINS IN NON-DISCRIMINATION

Another MASSIVE win today was a TA on the Non-Discrimination article. This included UNPRECEDENTED language that gives grad workers recourse against abuses of authority and harassment. We won protections against discrimination based on an expansive set of markers, including caste and ethnicity. We also won the right to have a union steward present throughout the Title IX process to hold the University accountable. This movement is the result of months of building pressure through your testimonials and actions! 

LET’S KEEP MOVING FORWARD

With only economic proposals left on the table, let admin know it’s time to PAY UP. TURN OUT at the Pay, Power, and Protections NOW! Rally on Monday, November 13th at noon! RSVP HERE. Come out to hear from fellow grad workers and allies in faculty, alumni, undergraduates, and community members. You can also grab NEW MERCH to continue to show off your union pride on the daily. You saw what you all did today by turning up in huge numbers – let’s show them again on November 13th! WE WILL WIN WHAT WE ARE ORGANIZED TO TAKE!!! 

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)