A six-session bargaining marathon concluded yesterday afternoon with several industry-leading protections for Caltech GSWs and postdocs.
FOUR MAJOR WINS!
- Prohibition Against Discrimination, Unlawful Harassment, & Abusive Conduct
- A new standard among private institutions in the United States for protections against bullying, harassment, and discrimination
- Supportive, timely, and survivor-centered interim measures to maintain a safe environment
- Protections against abusive conduct and bullying beyond the scope of Title IX protections, including neutral third-party mediation within 90 days
- Parallel process through our new grievance process, without needing to rely solely on Title IX’s investigation
- Appointment Notification and Lengths
- Minimum of two-year initial appointments for postdocs (and therefore two-year initial visas for international postdocs)
- Reasonable Accommodations and Accessibility
- Enforceable accommodations with an individualized and flexible process to guarantee an accessible workplace
- Discipline and Discharge
- No more unjust termination without due process and timely advance notification
This is unprecedented. Our collective action as Postdocs and GSWs won our union, is winning our contract, and will enforce our rights after a campus-wide ratification vote. Because of our We Keep Us Safe Rally on 7/19, we have protections that set a new standard for academic contracts. The numerous stories of harassment and failures of Title IX that Postdocs and GSWs courageously shared could not be cast aside. Together, we made the Caltech administration take our demands seriously.
Tentative agreements were also reached on No Strike, No Lockout and Management and Academic Rights, both of which maintain our federal rights as a union. We won’t be meeting for another in-person bargaining session until September; in the meantime, we’ll be sending some resources explaining in more detail what GSWs and Postdocs won together.
Want to keep the momentum going?
Schedule your Lab Meeting to discuss priorities with your coworkers today! We all need to strategize and decide the best way to collectively build our power so that we continue to make progress on our top issues like wages, healthcare, international scholar rights, and childcare.
In solidarity,
Shruteek Mairal, GSW, CCE
Any questions, comments, and concerns can be sent to organize@cgpu.org. You can track bargaining progress and read copies of all tentative agreements on our bargaining portal.