We have a schedule for bargaining! For Winter term, every Thursday from 12:00-1:00PM we will be bargaining with OSU Admin. Our current venue is Westminster House (101 NW 23rd St.) and members along with their families are encouraged to attend these sessions.
After our union and OSU Admin agreed to opening 9 articles (Article 6: No Strikes or Lockouts, Article 9: Appointments, Article 11: Salary, Article 12: Tuition Waiver, Article 13: Summer Session, Article 24: Non-Discrimination, Article 25: Health and Safety, Article 29: Restrooms) on January 25, we were able to get back to the table and have a productive discussion on improving protections for DACA recipients.
Our union proposed four key provisions for ensuring we promote and support our graduate employees who have received DACA status. These provisions have been included in Article 24: Non Discrimination:
The guarantee of non-discrimination on the basis of immigration or citizenship status.
The right to legal consultation.
The right to paid time off for any potential court or legal proceedings DACA recipients may have to attend.
Disseminating resources and other information for staff, faculty, and graduate employees on DACA and what available support exists for DACA recipients.
We ended our bargaining session today by providing OSU Admin with a proposal to modify language on strikes. As a union that is invested in the welfare of our members and workers outside of our union, we proposed these changes so that we can be supportive of workers that decide to go on strike or protest their labor conditions. We also never want to be in the situation where we are required to perform the jobs of striking workers (for instance should the faculty ever go on strike, we do not want to undermine their efforts by doing their jobs in their absence).
Next bargaining session is February 15, 12:00-1:00PM at Westminster House (101 NW 23rd St). Come attend the session and be sure to give our bargaining team input!