Bargaining Update #2
Yesterday in Los Angeles at the second Academic Student Employee (ASE) bargaining session, ASEs took steps towards achieving three of the top priorities set at last November’s bargaining convention, including greater work-life balance, faster grievance timelines, and expanding international worker rights. At yesterday’s bargaining session, management moved towards ASEs on one of those priorities: they accepted a proposal for regular, standing arbitration dates, which would make our current grievance process much faster and more worker-friendly. Negotiations over our grievance process are far from over, but this is a good early sign.
UAW workers across the state worked for months to stop the Governor’s proposed cut to UC’s budget, and in the final budget, UC is fully funded through the 2025-26 fiscal year. Nevertheless, departments across the UC are still planning to reduce the number of TA positions and increase class sizes, all at the expense of instructional quality. Yesterday we proposed protections that would require departments to maintain their current instructor-to-student ratios and bargain with us if they ever want to change them.
UAW 4811 ASEs prepping for Tuesday's session.
We also continued pushing for stronger international worker rights by proposing improvements to PTO and leave policies that would provide ASEs much more security when they have to leave the country for visa renewals.
Check out the bargaining tracker here to view all proposals submitted by the ASE Bargaining Committee and UC Management. Find more bargaining info at the ASE bargaining webpage. For rapid updates on what’s going on at the bargaining table, please subscribe to the ASE bargaining updates Telegram channel at this link.
Sign the petition to protect International Worker rights
UAW 4811 members have proposed contract language that would provide industry-leading protections for UC academic workers against the Trump Administration’s visa restrictions, travel bans, and deportations. To win those demands, ASEs will need to put maximum pressure on management. Sign on to the International Workers petition here (signing will not duplicate your membership), and watch the video below to see what bargaining means to international workers
Class size survey
Departments across the state have begun announcing major changes to class sizes and staffing ratios that will have major impacts to the quality of instruction ASEs are able to deliver. If you are aware of job cuts, class size increases, elimination of discussion sessions, or any other cuts in your department, please click on the button below to provide details.
Davis Town Hall with Congressional Representative Mike Thompson
Next Thursday, July 31 at 12 PM, UAW 4811 Davis academic workers will hold a town hall with Representative Mike Thompson, who represents the district that includes UC Davis, to urge the Congressman to fight for public research and education in the coming appropriations season. Workers will share their stories and hear from Representative Thompson on how he plans to protect research and education funding. Please click the button below to RSVP!
In solidarity,
Tanzil Chowdhury
GSR, Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley
ASE Statewide Chair, UAW 4811