Postdoctoral Researchers Organization, UAW 2322

Our families and deserve a publicly-funded universal system to serve our care needs. One step to getting there is funding flexible child care NOW. Sign Care That Works petition & demand that MA legislators use the funding to get flexible care today.
https://carethatworks.org/take-action/

Take Action – Care That Works Tell state lawmakers: Child care in Massachusetts is not working. Massachusetts cannot recover from COVID without it. For a Just Recovery, Fund Flexible Child Care

https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-21-069.html?fbclid=IwAR0H1hlFf-JPPB42aITLS3rxncTcqFoh-AyvxJ7SXioi00Z7lBfvbgMjFho

NOT-OD-21-069: Announcement of Childcare Costs for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellows NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Announcement of Childcare Costs for Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellows NOT-OD-21-069. NIH

UMass Grad Workers & Families Suddenly Evicted, organized by Anna-Claire Simpson We are raising money to help offset the shock, discomfort, and disp… Anna-Claire Simpson needs your support for UMass Grad Workers & Families Suddenly Evicted

News from our fellow UAW members at Safe Passage! Members are calling for interim discipline and discharge and grievance procedure policies to improve working conditions immediately while they bargain their first contract. “Management and their anti-union lawyer have ‘repeatedly shot down worker-centered contract language written and proposed by SASS members’ at the bargaining table.”

Safe Passage Workers Enter Contract Negotiations for a Safer Workplace By R. Nicholas On March 22nd, 2020, The Shoestring reported on the unionization effort at Safe Passage, a Northampton organization offering services to survivors of domestic violence and those esca…

The UMass Unions sent a message to the BoT and Administration yesterday demanding greater transparency in making buildings on campus safer in minimizing the spread of COVID and a demand to bring back the furloughed maintainers and maintenance techs who do the work to make this campus safe!

Are you a PRO member? Do you know any new postdocs who have yet to join our awesome Union? Have you seen our glorious new website? Did you know we have our first Union Co-Chairs? Did you know you can now become a member by filling out a form online? OMG, CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE TO LEARN MORE!

https://prouaw2322.org

Postdoctoral Researchers Organizing UAW2322 The Union for Postdocs at UMass Amherst

Solidarity and a big warm welcome to our friends at Columbia !!!

The first ever postdoc union at a private US university has been formed 1700 postdoc researchers at Columbia University join to secure higher pay, protection for harassment victims and parental leave

https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2020/09/03/uaw-researchers-membership-columbia-university/3453703001/?fbclid=IwAR10PE5LZ7DAZgb3I2rPbw0igTm0XK2wlf2DS5RTJ_Bd874aIzikhfTpbjU

Justice for George Floyd. Abolish Police. Abolish ICE. Black Lives Matter. We, the rank and file and leadership of UAW Local 2322 are appalled and horrified by the white supremacist murder of George Floyd by four police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25 2020. W…

Postdocs in solidarity with Graduate Employee Organization (GEO-UAW)!!

UMass Postdocs! Please fill out this survey and share with others:

https://forms.gle/3wVGetBsrqKXU9w67

Postdoc Pandemic Impact The goal of this survey is to better understand how postdocs at UMass Amherst have been impacted by campus closure and other facets of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to better understand how we as a Union can respond to these impacts.

Join us for our first Postdoctoral Researchers Organizing (PRO) Membership Meeting,
on Wednesday, May 6th from 5pm-6pm on Zoom!

Join us to share your experiences working as a postdoc during this pandemic, and let's plan together how we are going to not only survive, but thrive during this unprecedented time. You can also come just to meet your fellow postdocs and to learn more about your amazing Union!

Pre-register at the link below. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: PRO Membership Meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting. Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: PRO Membership Meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Umass GEO and PRO members specifically:

Please email the union or reply here with things we can collectively demand now that the university’s plans are clearer. We need to know we can minimize workload while caring for ourselves and others...but I see umass increasing workloads with online classes and grad workers being asked to help faculty who’ve never taught online before, etc....

Let’s get creative and expansive!

As some of you may already know, UMass Amherst is threatening to pull out of funding the Amherst Family Center this year. The Amherst Family Center is an invaluable community resource that was started by grad student and faculty parents and families many years ago. It was initially a volunteer effort, and at one point, UMass Amherst got involved and took over funding. They run on a very small budget, and yet they serve so many UMass and Amherst community families. As part of UMass' broader plan to cut funding to grad student families and decimate the community resources they have developed and sustained, the University has made it clear they plan to withdraw their financial support for the place with no plan for how to help the Center transition to a self-sustaining model (non-profit). The Amherst Family Center is a space where parents can meet other parents, where parents can spend time with their young kids and have them around other kids, and it's a space that has been a lifesaver for many, particularly international parents where one parent is usually unable to work due to visa restrictions, but would otherwise be stuck at home alone with their kid(s) all day. GEO is working on collecting testimonies from families who have depended on this amazing resource (which is free for parents), and we are working with the folks there now who are doing everything they can to save the place.
I am asking folks to come to a potentially fateful meeting on Friday 2/21 at 11am in Whitmore 340V where parents from the Amherst Family Center expect to hear (finally) the University's plans.
We need to demonstrate to the administration that we see what they are doing, and we won't let it happen quietly. We need to rally support for the current, past and future families who depend on this space to demand the University do better by us and our community. However, if you do come to the meeting on 2/21, please come to listen and show allyship quietly, to permit the parent representatives to speak and keep their presentation organized and clear. If you are interested in doing more work on this as part of our broader bargaining campaign, please let us know. If you have been a parent (or are a parent) who has been a part of the Amherst Family Center, please consider sharing a written testimonial with us via email ([email protected] or [email protected]).
Even if you can't make it to this meeting on the 21st, please reach out to others to do so by sharing this email.
In Solidarity,

UMass Postdocs! We have exciting news. The University has set up the Visa Reimbursement Fund that we won in recent contract negotiations! You can check your email for more details, but here is what the University sent out:

Dear Postdoctoral Researchers Organizing (PRO) bargaining unit members,

As part of the agreement recently established with the Postdoctoral Researchers Organizing (PRO), an annual visa reimbursement fund of $15,000 was created for the purpose of reimbursing unit members of their application fees for Visas obtained from the U.S. embassy/consulate or for SEVIS fees. Transportation costs for in-country travel to a U.S consulate are not subject to reimbursement. Individual reimbursements are centrally-funded and are capped at a maximum of $1,000 per applicant.

Employees may apply from January 15 – February 28 to receive reimbursement for the previous calendar year in which the fees were incurred.

Applicants must submit the application form to begin the reimbursement process. Applicants are required to submit documents as indicated in the application. Upon approval from the Provost’s office and the International Programs Office, you will receive your reimbursement as a payroll reimbursement. For any questions please reach out to the Provost’s Academic Personnel team at [email protected].

We settled our new contract! Now we need YOU to vote on it!!! Join us for drinks, appetizers, and a really awesome new contract! Friday November 1st at the University Club on campus.
Questions? Email [email protected]

News from Providence Hospital where the boss made unilateral changes to paid time off and our POW/UAW members fought back and won’t take it any more!

NLRB files complaint against Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke HOLYOKE — The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, accusing the hospital of violating labor law by “refusing to bargain collectively in good faith” with some of its employees.The complaint...

Please read this statement from the 2322 Executive Board on the state of our union and the despicable behavior of some leaders. We are appalled and infuriated about the fact that a handful of people in positions of trust in the UAW betrayed the people they represent. Nonetheless, as a local and in our workplaces we still have lots of work to do to build OUR union and that does not depend on the national union or its bureaucracy. We ONLY answer to you, our members, and we hope to figure out together, along with other locals, how to change the national leadership along with the institutional structures and practices that made this possible.

Our union Fellow workers, Thank you for entrusting us with the leadership of your local union.  We educate the very young, we provide life-saving mental and behavioral health care, we teach college and …

Postdoctoral Researchers Unit Contract Ratification Notice 11/22/16 Dear Postdocs: Your labor union, UAW Local 2322, is excited to announce that after months of negotiations with the University, the bargaining committee has reached tentative agreement on a…

Check out the Postdoc Union Bargaining Update from today's bargaining session!

June 8, 2016 – Postdoc Bargaining Update The postdoc union’s bargaining committee presented management with six proposals last week and six proposals this week, ranging from “housekeeping” edits to significant, substanti…

Stay tuned for the impact of the new overtime rules on our negotiations!

Contact [email protected] if you want information about bargaining or want to serve on the bargaining committee.

UC must follow Department of Labor rule for postdoc staff | The Daily Californian Stagnant wages have dogged workers for decades. Data from the Census Bureau released this month show that most Americans make substantially less money in inflation-adjusted terms than they did 15 years ago. To the Obama administration’s credit, this is a problem it takes seriously and is looking to…

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO WIN JUST CAUSE!

My name is Court Cline, and I am the Union Representative for the Resident Assistant Unit of UAW Local 2322 (RAU/UAW), the Union that represents all RAs and Peer Mentors at UMass-Amherst. Since April 2015, we have been bargaining a new RAU/UAW contract with the UMass administration. Although your bargaining team initially made some progress with some of their proposals, it is clear that the UMass administration is adamantly opposed to including "just cause" in your contract. Without "just cause", RAs and Peer Mentors can be terminated from their positions without any reason and without a fair process to appeal the decision. Just cause is included in every other contract on campus, but the UMass administration is claiming that RAs and Peer Mentors are a "different kind of worker" that should not be entitled to the same type of job protections that are guaranteed to other workers on campus. The RAU/UAW bargaining team has made winning "just cause" a number one priority and had decided to put additional pressure on the UMass administration.

In order to do this, we need your help.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

- Go to www.uaw2322.org to sign the RA/PM Just Cause petition

- Wear a "No Just Cause, No Peace" sticker on your shirt during the Move-In period

- Hand out flyers and get folks to sign copies of the petition during the times that you aren't working at Move-In. We are specifically looking for folks on Friday, September 4th during the following shifts: 9:00 - Noon, Noon - 3:00 PM and 3:00 - 5:00 pm

- Help to hand out flyers and get petition signatures during the Welcome Back to Campus Barbecue on September 7th from 4:00-7:00 PM

If you would like to sign up to help with our sticker, flyer and petition campaign during Move In on Friday, September 4th and/or the Welcome Back Barbecue, please send an email to [email protected].

In solidarity,

Court

United Auto Workers Local 2322 | More than Auto Workers More than Auto Workers

Some great responses to sexist attitudes towards women in science. Let's continue to strengthen the protections for equal treatment in our next contract! Contact [email protected] to join the bargaining team.

Hilarious Responses To Nobel Prize Winner Tim Hunt's Sexist Comments Nobel Prize winner Sir Tim Hunt made headlines this week for his passionate assertions about “girls” in the lab. Persistently doomed by fatal attraction to and from his colleagues, Hunt explained to BBC Radio 4 that although he was “really sorry” for causing offense, he meant every word, as these co…

28% of Postdoc Union members have filled out our bargaining survey so far. If you are a Postdoc at UMass Amherst, please take 10 minutes to let us know what you want to see in your next contract.

Contract Ryan Quinn at [email protected] if you want to serve on the bargaining committee or if you have any questions about negotiations.

2015 Postdoc Bargaining Survey – | United Auto Workers Local 2322 As we prepare to begin negotiations with UMass Amherst over wages, hours, and working conditions for Postdoctoral researchers here on campus, the Postdoctoral Researcher Organization (PRO) wants to survey all postdocs on campus to set our bargaining priorities and agenda. Please take 10 minutes...

UMass Postdocs: Take 10 minutes to fill out the bargaining committee's survey. We need YOUR input so we can set priorities in our new contract.

2015 Postdoc Bargaining Survey – | United Auto Workers Local 2322 As we prepare to begin negotiations with UMass Amherst over wages, hours, and working conditions for Postdoctoral researchers here on campus, the Postdoctoral Researcher Organization (PRO) wants to survey all postdocs on campus to set our bargaining priorities and agenda. Please take 10 minutes...

Attention Members of the Postdoc Union, UAW 2322 at UMass Amherst: Nominations are open for bargaining committee positions from now until noon on April 17. Nominate yourself or a fellow union member to bargain a new contract with the University and build power for Postdocs at UMass by sending the nomination to [email protected] !

UMass Postdocs: Call for Bargaining Committee Nominations – |... The Postdoctoral Researcher Organization (PRO-UAW) of UAW Local 2322 is pleased to announce that nominations are open for 4 (four) Bargaining Committee Members. Any Postdoc union members interested in nominating themselves or any other member for these positions can email [email protected] with...

Attention UAW 2322:
We have just learned that the Department of Labor Relations have ordered an add-on election for the UMass Amherst Peer Mentors to decide whether or not to join the Resident Assistant Union, a unit of UAW 2322. We are thrilled with the DLR's decision and expect the Peer Mentors to overwhelmingly vote to join our union.

UAW 2322-2232 Merger Vote Results – | United Auto Workers Local 2322 Dear UAW Local 2322 Members, Voting has concluded for the proposed merger with Local 2232, and the majority of those voting have voted in favor of the merger. I learned today that Local 2232 has voted in favor of merging with our Local pending our vote. The merger must be approved by the International Executive Board at their next meeting by the end of February, at which time I will announce the results of that decision. [ 11 more words. ]

MA Senator Elizabeth Warren has a plan to increase NIH funding by fining drug companies for breaking the law. This would be good news for public research funding and UMASS postdocs!

My new bill: A swear jar for the drug companies Let's require those big-time drug companies that break the law to put more money into funding medical research.