RSVP for our Town Hall on next steps on 4/23
Last week, we reached a major milestone by getting certified by the Massachusetts Department of Labor. Here are three updates:
1. CORE-UAW Town Hall on Wednesday, April 23 at 12PM (NERB N1-1500): We will discuss moving towards bargaining. This will be a great opportunity to meet other postdocs and graduate workers, share insights, and get any questions you have answered. Please RSVP here. Lunch will be provided!
2. Certification celebration reminder: we are gathering this Friday 4/18 at 6:30PM at Bay State Brewery to celebrate our certification. Hope to see you there!
3. Response to open letter: We received a response from the UMass Chan administration to our Open Letter urging them to place a stay on postdoc layoffs, which a majority of postdocs at UMass Chan signed onto. We were pleased to note that in their response, the administration committed to bargain with our unions in good faith, and to continue to advocate for the restoration of federal funding for scientific research. However, the administration rejected our demand to place a stay on layoffs, claiming that such a stay would not be feasible in light of anticipated financial uncertainties in the future. This is deeply frustrating, and highlights the importance of our campaign to unionize so that we can bargain for stronger protections for postdocs and graduate student workers. Please join us at our Town Hall next week to discuss next steps in this campaign.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any thoughts or questions.
Best,
Akshay Alaghatta
Graduate Student, Department of Medicine
Marina Krykbaeva
Postdoc, RNA Therapeutics Institute
Members of the CORE-UAW Organizing Committee