Welcome back to campus and to the start of the school year! A lot has happened this summer since Penn graduate workers won our union in May. Let’s keep the momentum going.
We’ve made great strides this summer to start negotiating our first union contract with Penn management. First, Penn grad workers elected our Bargaining Committee in early July. It includes 19 members from departments across the university who will be tasked with leading negotiations. You can learn more about our newly-elected Bargaining Committee here. The Bargaining Committee will provide regular updates on our progress and goals on the GETUP-UAW website and in frequent emails.
Since May, thousands of graduate workers have filled out the bargaining survey in order to participate in formulating our collective bargaining priorities.
Dozens of graduate workers have participated in working group meetings on particular issues, such as international student support and harassment and discrimination, to help craft initial bargaining demands and proposal language. Working groups on particular issues will continue to meet throughout the proposal drafting process. If you are interested in a specific topic, you can sign up here to learn more about upcoming working group meetings
Bargaining Committee members used survey responses and working group input to draft initial bargaining demands and proposed contract articles. Graduate workers are ratifying the initial bargaining demands. We must ratify the IBDs with an overwhelming majority to show Penn we all think that these demands matter.
RSVP here for the International Student Town Hall on October 2 in Singh Center for Nanotechnology, Basement 035 at 5:30PM. Members of the Bargaining Committee will answer questions about the bargaining process and discuss how we can most effectively organize to win the best contract for all of our demands, including support for international graduate workers.
There are many ways to get more involved. Sign up here to attend an upcoming organizing training, where you can learn more about having effective conversations with your coworkers about where we are in the process of getting our first contract, as well as answer their questions. Additionally, GETUP-UAW Organizing Committee meetings are held every Monday at 5:30PM in Vagelos 3000. These meetings are open to all union-supporting graduate workers at Penn and provide a great opportunity to meet other organizers from across the university.
Let’s get ready to win an amazing contract.