On Friday, May 11, The University of Washington Postdoc vote in support of joining the UAW was certified! Below is a letter from the organizing committee celebrating the victory:
Dear Colleague,
It’s hard to contain our excitement, and we surely cannot type out the true number of exclamation points we are *feeling* when we say, after incredible participation in our union election, our Postdoc Union is official! (!!!!!)
We thought some numbers could help contextualize our success:
✓ A majority of all UW Postdocs and 89% of unchallenged voters voted union YES!
✓ We are only the 6th group of Postdocs to form a union in the U.S. and the 1st group of Postdocs to hold a union election in which Postdocs voted to form their own bargaining unit!
✓ We are joining UAW Local 4121 as a separate bargaining unit, which means we will bargain our own contract and make individual unit decisions, but can also benefit from sharing administrative resources, bargaining expertise, and solidarity with the 4500 Academic Student Employees at the UW!
✓ We live in the 5th most expensive city in the country for housing, and the 6th most expensive state for childcare. Now we have the power to make real change to address these and many other inequities and challenges that UW Postdocs face!
In Solidarity,
Your friends and colleagues on the UW Postdocs United / UAW Organizing Committee,
Dan Amrhein, Oceanography & Atmospheric Sciences
Pamela Baker, Biological Structure
Leilani Battle, Computer Science & Engineering
Carolyn Brotherton, Microbiology
Mattias Cape, APL
Max Friedfeld, Chemistry
Hannah Horowitz, Atmospheric Sciences & JISAO
Parisa Hosseinzadeh, Biochemistry
Jiae Lee, Biochemistry
Lindsey Madison, Chemistry
Peter Mahoney, Environmental & Forestry Sciences
Daniel McCloy, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences
Christopher Morrison, Astronomy
Frederick von Netzer, Civil & Environmental Engineering
Maya Rosen, Psychology
Brian Sargent, Sociology
Margaret Siple, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Michelle Tigchelaar, Atmospheric Sciences
Brian Weitzner, Biochemistry
Alex White, Psychology
Liang Zhang, Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences
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