Yesterday, we held our third bargaining session with the Sinai administration. Sinai continues to insist on negotiating with Instructors and Scientists separately, so we had two back-to-back sessions, each for one hour.
During each of these sessions, we presented three new non-economic proposals focused on workplace rights: Workspace and Materials, Job Posting, and Workload. A summary of the proposals we presented is included below. Sinai also presented a counterproposal on Training that appeared to go below the protections they agreed to with our postdoc colleagues, as well as established standards for unionized researchers nationwide. We ran out of time to discuss this counter before the session ended.
We also continued our efforts to secure additional bargaining time for December and January. In response to our proposal for bargaining dates during that period (the equivalent of 30 hours of bargaining time), Sinai’s team offered only two 2-hour sessions in January (January 6 and January 30), which we have accepted.
A five-week break between sessions and just one hour per unit each time is far below standard practice at other NYC research institutions and is already significantly slowing down progress. At Einstein, Rockefeller, and Weill Cornell Medicine, researchers have bargained roughly every two weeks for four hours at a time, for a single unit. We encouraged Sinai to match that standard.
We emphasized the urgency of moving bargaining forward and conveyed that the majority of senior researchers are increasingly frustrated by the slow pace. We are ready to adjust our own extremely challenging schedules to reach a fair, timely agreement that makes Sinai a more inclusive, equitable, and competitive workplace. With the same level of commitment from the Sinai administration, we are confident that this is achievable.
We are still waiting for Sinai to provide additional dates and will share the next confirmed session as soon as it is finalized. Click here to RSVP to observe an upcoming scheduled bargaining session.
Summary of our Proposals:
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Workspace and Materials: Requires Sinai to provide adequate space, equipment, materials, and facilities necessary for researchers to do our work.
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Job Posting: Establishes fair, transparent procedures for posting researcher positions.
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Workload: Ensures reasonable work schedules aligned with research needs and agreed upon with the researcher.
You can read the full text of these proposals at our online bargaining tracker, here. Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts.
In Solidarity,
Roman Kosoy, Senior Scientist
Psychiatry Department
ROCS-UAW Bargaining Committee