November 2, 2022

We’re writing with a brief update on our ongoing negotiations with the Sinai administration.

Our last bargaining session took place on October 11. While we were pleased to reach tentative agreements on two relatively simple articles, Recognition and Severability, we were concerned to hear that Sinai was not available to meet with us again until the second week of November due to challenges related to Sinai’s team members’ schedules.

A month-long break in between sessions is unusual and makes progress more difficult. We are willing to adjust our own busy schedules in order to reach a timely agreement that makes Sinai more inclusive, equitable and competitive, and with equivalent effort from the Sinai administration we are confident that we can achieve this goal. In that spirit, we also reached out to the administration’s team on October 21 to propose smaller group sessions in an effort to accommodate scheduling difficulties. We are still waiting to hear back from the administration with their availability.

We have also started to establish working groups to provide support with the bargaining process. These groups will stay in regular contact with the bargaining committee in order to assist with research, give feedback on proposals, and drive issue-based campaigns that add to our leverage at the bargaining table. Click here to sign up for a working group!

Across the country researchers are taking action to improve academic working conditions. Thousands of graduate student employees have filed for union elections in just the last several weeks, and 48,000 UAW academic workers, including thousands of postdocs, are voting to authorize a strike this week if necessary to reach fair agreements in their contract negotiations. In Massachusetts, 500 student workers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute will begin voting on whether to unionize with the UAW today.

We will be holding an informational town hall on Thursday, November 10th at 12pm EST, in Annenberg Room A5-205 (5th floor). Please join us to meet with other postdocs, hear an update on the current status of negotiations, and get answers to any questions you may have. Click here to RSVP.

Please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions or thoughts.

In solidarity,

Elza Rechtman
Environmental Medicine and Public Health
SPOC-UAW Bargaining Committee

For updates on our union, check out sinaipostdocunion.org and take a minute to like and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.