TL;DR: RSVP for our first social as UAW Local 2478: happening this Friday (2/28) from 4:30 to 7:00 PM in the Chen Zen Garden! We’ll be discussing the first draft of our new union’s bylaws which determine important things like the structure of our union’s government and how elections are run.
As you may have read already, we have ratified our first contract and CGPU is now officially UAW Local 2478!
Our union, UAW 2478, is a fundamentally democratic institution of, by, and for Caltech Graduate Student Workers (GSWs) and Postdocs. In the coming months, GSWs and Postdocs will be continuing to build that democracy so we can use our power to collectively improve working conditions on campus by enforcing our contract and lobbying against the Trump administration’s policies that cut science funding and put international scholars in jeopardy.
How do we build our local?
For our local to run we need 4 things:
- Membership
- Bylaws
- Elected Stewards
- Elected Executive Board
The first among many next steps is to write our bylaws, which will determine the structure of our democracy, and build our membership, who will participate in that democracy.
What are bylaws?
Bylaws are a document that dictates the agreed upon rules for engagement within an organization. All UAW local unions have their own set of bylaws which lay out all aspects of local governance, including but not limited to; how monthly membership meetings are held, the structure of our Executive Board and Stewards, election processes, budgets, and financing. Our interim E-board, with the help of the Bylaws Research Committee, have written a first draft of the bylaws, which can be viewed here.
A vote of all Postdocs and GSWs who sign up to members of our union will be held next month to ratify a final draft of these bylaws. Stay tuned for more about strengthening our union by becoming a member soon!
Before finalizing the bylaws for a vote, the interim E-board and the Bylaws Research Committee will be hosting a social to discuss a first draft of the bylaws, where you can hear summaries of the articles, ask questions, and discuss suggestions! This social will be held on Friday, February 28th in the Chen Zen Garden from 4:30-7 pm! To provide a headcount for pizza and drinks as well as to give any initial feedback, RSVP here.
If you’d like to participate more in establishing our local union, get involved!
As always, questions, comments, concerns, and now contract violations can be directed to leaders in your building or can be sent to organize@cgpu.org.
In solidarity,
Harshda Saxena
PMA G2
