Still no responses from Penn on economic issues

This Tuesday, graduate workers continued negotiations with Penn admin. Despite bargaining for nearly one year, Penn admin still refuses fair agreements on crucial non-economic issues, and has not yet responded to any of our economic proposals.

During Tuesday’s session:

• Graduate workers passed counterproposals on Prohibition Against Discrimination and Harassment, Access Needs and Disability Accommodations, and Union Rights.

• Penn admin passed counterproposals on Appointments, Access Needs and Disability Accommodations, and Union Rights.

Penn admin finally gave a response during Tuesday’s session to graduate workers’ Appointments proposal, which we initially presented last November. In their counterproposal, admin agreed only to issue graduate workers appointments letters “when possible” and said that the University should be able to rescind graduate workers’ appointments at any time without any recourse. Appointment security is essential for graduate workers to ensure that once we’ve accepted an appointment, Penn can’t rescind the job unilaterally.

Despite responses on Union Rights and Disability Accommodations, admin continues to deny graduate workers basic rights we need to ensure an accessible workplace and a strong union. We are getting closer to reaching an agreement on Prohibition Against Harassment and Discrimination, but graduate workers will need to demonstrate continued power and pressure in order to ensure we can reach fair agreements on these crucial issues.

In solidarity,

The GETUP-UAW Bargaining Committee

Clara Abbott

Emily Aunins

Peter Bailer

Oishi Bardhan

Kal Brown

Caitlin Frazee

Katelyn Friedline

Adina Goldstein

Sam Herrmann

Jimmy Kelliher

Sam Layding

George Lin

Clancy Murray

Jonathan Nadraws

Izzy Navarro

Jonas Peeters

Lauren Perry

George Porter

Anne-Marie Zaccarin