Yesterday, our elected bargaining committee met with the Sinai administration for our first bargaining session for Senior Researchers. We began by introducing ourselves and sharing a bit about our research and backgrounds. We were also joined by representatives from UAW Local 4100 and our national union, who spoke to their ongoing support for our efforts to win a fair first contract and advocate against federal funding cuts and visa restrictions.
We then presented Sinai with our Initial Bargaining Goals, which were overwhelmingly ratified by senior researchers (100% of Instructors and 98.4% of Scientists). We explained the reasons underlying each goal, and why it is a priority for us, emphasizing the need for a contract that reflects both the value of our work and the realities we face as researchers at Sinai.
We then discussed our approach to bargaining. Many of us at the table were part of the postdoc negotiations, which took more than 14 months but ultimately resulted in a fair contract. Now, as promoted researchers, we believe Sinai’s commitment should reflect our greater experience, longer service at Sinai, and commitment to our work. We also stressed the urgent need to reach a fair contract under today’s political climate of federal attacks on science funding, jobs, and the rights of international scientists. In light of the urgent need for stronger rights and protections for researchers, we expressed openness to using the SPOC contract as a framework for areas where our working conditions are similar to those of our postdoctoral colleagues. The Sinai administration did not reject this approach out of hand, but expressed a desire to see written proposals before committing to provide similar terms to what our postdoc colleagues have in their contract.
Sinai’s team listened and shared our desire for reaching agreements in an efficient manner. We expressed concern regarding how Sinai’s proposed approach to negotiations could make it more difficult to meet and make progress, including negotiating over Instructor and Scientist working conditions separately, even when most of our day-to-day working conditions are the same.
We emphasized that timely progress is essential for addressing our core issues and informed Sinai’s team that we intend to make concrete proposals at our next session. We are hopeful that as we continue to meet with the Sinai administration, we can find ways to work together with the urgency these negotiations deserve, so that we can reach a fair agreement without unnecessary delays.
Overall, this session was a positive start, and we hope that a productive tone at the table continues. Our next bargaining session will be scheduled soon, and we will keep everyone updated.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or thoughts,
In solidarity,
Rajagowthamee Ravanapuram-Thangavel, Associate Scientist
Department of Microbiology
ROCS-UAW Bargaining Committee
Elza Rechtman, Instructor
Department of Environmental Medicine
ROCS-UAW Bargaining Committee