We met with Sinai for our 19th bargaining session on Monday. We concentrated on discussing several articles with a few remaining areas where Sinai has shown resistance, in order to try to resolve these differences and reach agreements. Track our bargaining progress here and click here to attend the next sessions.
On Intellectual Property, we asked Sinai about their resistance to the idea that eligible postdocs who have made significant contributions to a grant should be listed as co-PIs. Sinai insisted that there are other considerations for being listed as a co-PI, but didn’t provide examples . Sinai also argued against postdocs having access to a neutral grievance procedure to enforce our rights regarding grant investigator roles or licensing of software. We believe having access to a grievance process with neutral third-party arbitration is fundamental to addressing the power imbalance that postdocs face in these areas, and to making Sinai more equitable and inclusive.
On Union Access and Rights, we asked questions about Sinai’s continued opposition to basic provisions that would enable us to have strong representation in the workplace after we have a contract. We made a counter proposal on Health and Safety, on which we are getting closer to an agreement. At our last session we asked for the names of Sinai committees that discuss health and safety so that postdocs could be represented at such meetings. Sinai responded by agreeing that postdocs may serve on the Laboratory Safety committee.
Monday’s discussions were in-depth and helped us understand more of Sinai’s concerns so that we can respond to them at upcoming sessions, which we did not have time to do in the session. We also reminded Sinai they have not yet provided us with information we requested, including on terminations without just cause, to assist with developing responses to some of their recent proposals. Sinai committed to provide this information before our next session on June 8. RSVP to attend the session here.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts.
In solidarity,
Pooja Viswanathan
SPOC-UAW Bargaining Committee