Recently, you received communication from Dean David Chan regarding requests for information (RFIs) made by your elected bargaining representatives.
Requests for information put us on equal footing with the Caltech administration by ensuring that the same data is available to both bargaining teams. The right to access this information is enshrined by the National Labor Relations Act. The Caltech administration and CGPU bargaining teams mutually agreed that the information provided by the RFI cannot be shared beyond the teams.
The information includes fellowship status, wages, appointment data such as job titles and length of appointment, and contact details. An RFI like this one is a standard procedure for all industries. The Caltech administration requested the use of arbitration in order to mitigate potential issues that could arise from Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) regulations on graduate student data. We agreed to their request to ensure that remaining economic and immigration-related negotiations are not delayed. The administration has already shared the same data for Postdocs because FERPA regulations do not apply to Postdocs.
The bargaining team submitted this RFI at the start of contract negotiations as a standard part of negotiations; we cannot advocate for better wages, longer appointments, or understand the scope of the problems facing international scholars without data.
If you have further questions, you can email organize@cgpu.org or speak to your lab leader.
In solidarity,
Your GSW Bargaining Team:
Simona Miller
David Abramovitch
Quinn Morgan
James Williams
Emma Lenz
Korbi Thalhammer
Ruolin Deng
Sam Ponnada
Nadia Suryawinata
Mike Greklek-McKeon
Matthew Langley