Yesterday, graduate workers met with Penn admin for our 10th bargaining session. Despite getting off to a productive start and reaching a tentative agreement on Employment Files, admin wasted our time by responding to the wrong Job Postings proposal. The University had outright rejected this proposal in November, and we had already provided an updated version that addressed their concerns months ago. Immediately afterward, they passed us a second extremely disappointing response to our Protections Against Discrimination and Harassment proposal. Despite the movement we’ve made since our initial proposal, Penn again responded by rejecting the entirety of our language and simply citing their “Policy on Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action.” The only change to their last proposal was the addition of the clause, “To the extent permitted by law.”
In our Protections Against Discrimination and Harassment language, we proposed to codify many of Penn’s policies to enshrine protections for graduate workers in an enforceable contract. In response, Penn admin repeatedly said they were against doing so because “If you enshrine it, we can’t change it.” Despite reiterating to us their commitment to equal opportunity, diversity initiatives, and other protections, University admin is unwilling to codify any real protections against harassment, discrimination, and abuse into our contract, and they appear perfectly willing to preemptively comply with any federal restrictions on these measures. It is clear that Penn does not want to give up any unilateral control over issues related to harassment and discrimination, and that grad workers will have to fight for the protections that we deserve. This is all the more important given the Trump Administration’s attempts to roll back DEI initiatives and protections for marginalized groups.
Here’s a summary of yesterday’s session:
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We passed two counter proposals: Worker’s Compensation and Intellectual Property.
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The University presented four counter proposals: Employment Files, Job Postings, Workspace and Materials, and Protections Against Discrimination and Harassment.
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We reached a tentative agreement on Employment Files.
In order to respond to the current attacks on research and education workers like us, grad workers must fight back to secure our fundamental rights and protections. Next Friday, we will be introducing our proposal on Support for International and Immigrant Workers to ensure protections in the face of increasing threats to visa programs and hostile rhetoric from the Trump administration. RSVP to the next bargaining session and join us at 1:00pm on Friday 2/28. Together, we will show Penn admin that graduate workers across the university are standing together in support of international worker rights and are committed to protecting the fundamental rights of all members of our community.
In Solidarity,
The GETUP-UAW Bargaining Committee
Clara Abbott
Emily Aunins
Peter Bailer
Oishi Bardhan
Kal Brown
Eli Fastow
Adina Goldstein
Sam Herrmann
Sam Layding
George Lin
Clancy Murray
Jonathan Nadraws
Izzy Navarro
Jonas Peeters
Lauren Perry
George Porter
Anne-Marie Zaccarin