TL;DR: Admin removes minimum guaranteed stipend and decreases annual raises in a new “final” offer. If you wish to learn more about this offer, RSVP to our general membership meeting on Aug. 12th from 5-7pm.
On July 17th, the administration’s bargaining representative emailed our bargaining committee with a revised version of their “final package offer” from May. The revised version, which you can find here, eliminates the minimum stipend for salaried grad workers and reduces annual raises from 2.5% to 2%.
There is no forward movement in the revised offer to reflect the problems we found at our previous general membership meeting. Admin’s package still does NOT include:
- guaranteed 12-month appointments or 5 year funding (but does include the right to take them away from grads who have them)
- protections for international workers or funds to help pay visa and legal fees
- vision insurance or comprehensive dental insurance (but does include the right to take away health insurance from grads who don’t have 12 month appointments)
- neutral arbitration to protect against discrimination and harassment, excessive workload, or arbitrary discipline and dismissal
Admin is claiming that the “current climate and economic uncertainty” has forced them to move backwards on their offer. But the current climate does not justify Northeastern preventing us from having any say in our workplace. It does not justify their refusal to guarantee us basic protections. And it certainly does not justify them paying us far less than the value we bring to the University. Our bargaining committee hoped to schedule a bargaining session to ask questions about why the admins broke our trust by moving backwards and why they continue to refuse to provide protections. Unfortunately, despite giving them a full week to respond, their entire bargaining team ignored our request—yet another indication that admins are not interested in bargaining in good faith.
Instead, we are scheduling our own general membership meeting to look at this offer, brainstorm questions to ask admin when they finally do meet with us, and discuss our next steps together. We will be meeting on Tuesday, August 12th from 5-7pm. RSVP here!
Here are three actions you can take to help us win a better contract: 1) bring your ideas to the general membership meeting 2) provide your testimonial about how admin’s offer would affect you; 3) connect with a fellow grad organizing in your area to help take collective action. Together, we have the power to win a contract we deserve!
Solidarity,
GENU-UAW Organizing Committee and Bargaining Committee