December 29, 2022
Today we met with Sinai for another small group session which lasted one hour. Sinai made three counter proposals on Job Posting, Workspace and Materials, and Employment Records. We also asked for an update on our 12/19 proposal for Sinai to extend postdoc housing terms during the period of negotiations to alleviate some of the immediate stress on postdocs while retaining our right to make future housing proposals. Sinai responded that they have not been able to obtain information on housing availability yet but will try to do so by the next session. We reiterated the urgency of this issue and will keep everyone updated
We made counter proposals on Appointment Security and Appointments and Reappointments. In Appointment Security, we accepted some of Sinai’s language but did not agree to their proposed definition of a postdoc as a “temporary trainee position” and rejected language that would allow Sinai to terminate postdocs without just cause.
In Appointments and Reappointments, we moved towards Sinai on promotions and what types of information must be included in appointment letters, but continued to push back against their proposed one-year cap on appointments, with a maximum term of three years as a postdoc, which would reduce stability and predictability for all of us. We also maintained our proposed five-year term as a postdoc. The five-year term was adopted by Mount Sinai in 2016 through a collaborative effort by postdocs, faculty, and the administration, following recommendations by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Our proposal is also in line with the policy implemented at the NIH, known as the 5-Year / 8-Year Duration Rule.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time to give Sinai the other counters we had prepared and had no time to ask questions about their proposals. It is clear that we need more and longer sessions to timely progress. Our next scheduled meeting with the Sinai administration’s team will be on January 20th from 12-2pm EST for a full session and on January 11th from 9:30-11am EST for a small group meeting. Click here to attend an upcoming session.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts,
In solidarity,
Yajing Xu
Neuroscience
SPOC-UAW Bargaining Committee