Negotiations for the first Postdoc contract have begun! Thank you to everyone who voted to approve our initial bargaining goals. The strong majority participation by postdocs in our survey and bargaining goals vote strengthens our position at the bargaining table.
We have now met with the University’s bargaining team several times, and will continue negotiations over the Winter break period. While we have many issues to work through, we are excited to be finally sitting down to negotiate a secure contract that protects the interests and needs of Postdocs, while advancing the mission of the University.
At the outset of the negotiations, we provided our overall initial bargaining goals, which aim to improve the lives of postdocs and to make UConn a more inclusive and competitive research community. Since then, we have started exchanging specific proposals and counter proposals for all of the topics we hope to include in our first contract. Topics we have discussed so far include appointment notification, workload, anti-discrimination protections, leaves of absence, and intellectual property. As we proceed, we will send further updates and welcome any feedback or questions. By the end of this week, we expect to have exchanged all initial proposals with the University.
Finally, if you are a parent or guardian, please use the link below to complete a quick survey on childcare options and resources. Your responses will help us to bargain more effectively when negotiating provisions related to childcare: https://goo.gl/forms/1ttcDmKEJQT8Fnvi1.
In Solidarity,
UConn Postdoc Union, UAW Local 6950 Bargaining Committee
Christina Baer, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Kirsten Grond, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
Artemis Louyakis, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
James Mickley, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Neranjan Perera, Institute for Systems Genomics