At last Friday’s bargaining session, grad workers presented a new counterproposal on Discrimination and Harassment that includes the core demands outlined in our petition addressed to Provost Jackson.
Here’s a summary of Friday’s session:
- We presented a counterproposal on Discrimination and Harassment packaged with a counterproposal on No Strikes/No Lockouts
- The University presented a counterproposal on Workspace and Materials
- We presented a counterproposal on Intellectual Property
- Admin continued to demonstrate a lack of urgency. Grad workers are waiting on 11 outstanding articles that Penn admin have still not responded to.
Penn admin’s questions and comments about our Discrimination and Harassment proposal reflects a serious lack of concern or understanding for the importance of a safe work environment for grad workers. Instead, admin seems more concerned that strong protections against abusive behavior from supervisors could “weaken supervisors’ ability to manage.”
Penn admin’s failure to respond to 11 outstanding proposals is holding grad workers up from reaching a fair contract. Attend the next bargaining session on Friday, April 16th from 10:30 AM to 4:30 PM in the Sheraton University City to show admin that grad workers deserve a fair contract without any more delays! Sign up to attendand invite a coworker to come with you. Grad workers’ presence in the bargaining room has been crucial in pressuring admin to continue making movement towards a fair contract.