Postdoc observers before the start of Tuesday’s bargaining session
Register for a Town Hall on Friday, July 24 from 1-2pm in Carson!
Yesterday, on Tuesday, July 14th, we held our 31st bargaining session with the University. After several hours discussing our Intellectual Property and Research Integrity articles, the University presented a “comprehensive offer to finalize [our] first collective bargaining agreement” that included their proposals on most (but not all) of the articles we have discussed to date.
While we have not yet completed our review of their proposals, even a cursory scan of the document shows that they have blatantly ignored the demands that Unit Members have made clear are necessary for us to reach an agreement. Their proposal, which covered economic and non-economic articles alike:
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Rejects every attempt in our proposals to stabilize or improve the quality of benefits we currently have, as in the child care benefits, housing benefits, hardship fund provisions, and tax assistance (among others);
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Provides only a 1% increase in our compensation each year for the next four years, including this year;
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Denies employer contributions to retirement for Postdoctoral Associates and Postdoctoral Fellows;
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Maintains sole discretion to modify benefits, such as child care, without any Union rights to bargain over such changes;
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Allows the University to adjust housing costs and facilities in their sole discretion;
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Insists upon preventing the enforcement of Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation and Intellectual Property through the Grievance and Arbitration procedure without limitation and refuses to address our concerns about waiving status quo rights to pursue statutory claims in court;
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Prohibits any exercise of our rights to labor action, or to support the labor actions of others, under the National Labor Relations Act;
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Ignores our demands to alleviate specific inequitable financial burdens faced by International Unit Members, including through paid visa renewal/immigration procedure leave and support for visa- and immigration-related expenses;
among many other modifications to the demands we presented at our last bargaining sessions in May. These counterproposals are obviously unacceptable. We also made our first written counterproposal on Management Rights, which determines the rights the Union is willing to relinquish to the University for the purposes of managing its operations.
We are holding a town hall next week in Carson Auditorium on Friday, July 24th, at 1:00 PM for community members to discuss the University’s proposals, the current status of bargaining, and how to escalate pressure to ensure UPROR members get the contract we all deserve. RSVP to attend the town hall here [LINK].
Our next in-person session is scheduled for Monday, July 27, 2026, from 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM. Click here to RSVP if you’d like to attend this or a future session and see the process firsthand! You can access the full text of our proposals using our online bargaining tracker.
In solidarity,
Stephen Thornquist
On behalf of the UPROR-UAW Bargaining Committee
UPROR-UAW Proposals:
University Proposals:
Funding from Other Sources (see page 23)
Grievance & Arbitration (see pages 8-12)
Healthcare Benefits (see page 18)
Management and Academic Rights (see pages 2-6)
No Strike, No Lockout (see pages 6-8)
Notice to Parties (see pages 23-24)
Parking & Transportation (see pages 21-22)
Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation (see pages 12-16)