Today, we had our seventh bargaining session with UMass Chan.
UMass Chan presented their counter to our Intellectual Property Article.
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Our proposal outlined more comprehensive IP rights for student workers, but the University wants to use the existing policy. They maintained that the University’s policy is the best policy.
We presented our counter to the Discipline and Dismissal Article, to which UMass Chan responded back.
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We are making progress on the article, and there is a lot of agreement between us and UMass Chan regarding the language.
We also presented our counter to the Prohibition Against Discrimination and Harassment Article, which is a high-priority article for our members.
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UMass Chan considered many of the protections we outlined in this article to be covered under UMass Chan’s policy. We believe that student workers who are experiencing discrimination and harassment should be able to seek remedy under the existing internal processes, the protections in our contract, or both.
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The University also indicated that they weren’t interested in broadening the school’s current definition of which categories are protected from discrimination. We believe that the contract should go above and beyond the categories which the school is legally obligated to protect from discrimination.
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This article is important to us because the law is subject to change and protections from discrimination and harassment should be codified in our contract.
Once again, the University reiterated their position on maintaining the status quo when drafting the language on the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If we wanted to maintain the status quo, then we wouldn’t have needed to unionize. The Union strives to establish a strong contract that will improve the working conditions of Student Workers.
You can find all of the proposals on our bargaining tracker here (be sure to click the Student Worker Tab at the bottom).
If you are interested in attending upcoming sessions, click here to RSVP.
In solidarity,
Kathleen Desevin, Graduate Student, Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology
Clint McDaniel, Graduate Student, Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology
Akshay Alaghatta, Graduate Student, Medicine
Milky Abajorga, Graduate Student, Molecular Medicine
Will Cruz, Graduate Student, RNA Therapeutics
CORE-UAW Student Worker Bargaining Committee