Grad workers win Disability Accommodations

We have reached a tentative agreement on Disability Accommodations which expands the rights of graduate workers with disabilities by ensuring that workers can grieve inaccessible working conditions. Importantly, the article also states that documents used to secure academic accommodations through the Weingarten Center can also be applied to secure accommodations for a graduate employee’s work, a major win for our union.

During today’s session:

• We reached a tentative agreement on Disability Accommodations.

• Graduate workers passed a counterproposal on Appointments.

• Penn admin passed counterproposals on Disability Accommodations, Discrimination and Harassment, and Support for International and Immigrant Workers.

After almost a year of negotiations that included our delivery of a petition with over 2,000 grad worker signatures in support, Penn admin passed a counterproposal accepting much of our language on Prohibition of Discrimination and Harassment. The most recent version of the article offers graduate workers grievable protections in accordance with US federal, Pennsylvania state, and local Philadelphia law, enshrining protection against unfair treatment for protected classes. Penn has also agreed that issues related to all-gender bathroom accessibility may be raised at future Labor-Management meetings between Penn admin and our union. This counterproposal represents significant movement towards a mutually agreeable anti-discrimination article.

In solidarity,

The GETUP-UAW Bargaining Committee

Clara Abbott

Emily Aunins

Peter Bailer

Oishi Bardhan

Caitlin Frazee

Katelyn Friedline

Sam Herrmann

Jimmy Kelliher

Sam Layding

George Lin

Jancarlos Montoya

Clancy Murray

Izzy Navarro

Josh Ofili

Rosie Poku

George Porter

Caleb Scott-Joseph

Guru Shabadi

Anne-Marie Zaccarin