March 15, 2023
My name is Andrew, and I’m a 3rd year PhD student in the Molecular Biology department. I’m emailing today to let you know about some important next steps, including the dates for nominating and electing a bargaining team.
First, thank you to everyone who attended the first post-election town hall! With over 100 of us in attendance, graduate student workers discussed next steps in the campaign, including the timeline for electing a bargaining team of 15 to represent us in negotiations with USC.
Key upcoming dates include:
- March 20th-23rd: Bargaining Team nominations open. Nominees will submit short personal statements, which, if contested, will be available to all graduate student workers to read from March 24th until the bargaining team elections.
- March 27th-28th: Bargaining Team elections. If the election is contested (more than 15 people run for the bargaining team), voting will take place online, and will be done through a selection of 15 bargaining team members from the list of folks running.
If you’re interested in running for the bargaining team or learning more about the bargaining process generally, please fill out this interest form and one of your fellow graduate student workers will get in touch.
A handful of GSWs are meeting later this week to start drafting our initial bargaining demands: a set of broad demands based on countless conversations between GSWs and thousands of responses to numerous bargaining-related surveys circulated by GSWs. If you haven’t yet filled out the Preliminary Bargaining Survey, Workplace Environment and Compensation Survey, or the Worker Climate Survey, make sure to do so! Look out for info to come and provide feedback on this initial draft at next week’s General Membership Meeting (details to come).
A number of international student workers are organizing social events to hang out and discuss demands and concerns related to international students. Mark your calendar for next week, and keep an eye out for more information!
- GSWOC-UAW Boba Hour Q&A, Tuesday March 21st, 4-5pm: all international student workers are welcome to join and discuss the union bargaining process and demands related to you. RSVP here!
- International Student Social Event at Rock and Reilly’s, Thursday March 23rd, 4-6pm: Come by to hang out with fellow international student workers organizing to build our union! Non-international student organizers and folks interested in organizing are also welcome to attend — RSVP here.
In addition, there are upcoming training sessions on the calendar for the rest of March, including a Contract Bargaining Training tomorrow at 4 pm and an Understanding the UC Contract training next Thursday, March 23rd, at 5 pm. These trainings are a great way to learn more about contract bargaining — and what it will take for us graduate student workers to win an excellent first contract. RSVP here!
Finally, if you’d like to get more involved with organizing alongside other GSWs toward a great first contract, fill out this form or simply reply to this email.
In solidarity,
Andrew Janeiro, Mol Bio