Labor Relations

UW – UAW Negotiations Recap for February 8, 2018

Background

This recap details the first session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement between the UW and UAW, set to expire on April 30, 2018. Recaps are published online on the UW Labor Relations website.

UAW Initial Bargaining Demands

UAW put forth a list outlining its bargaining demands and priorities, structured around several themes.

  • Academic Student Employee (ASE) compensation and standards of living: UAW demanded that UW administration improve overall compensation and living standards to keep pace with rising costs of living, increasing tuition and fees, escalating student debt, and rising compensation for ASEs at peer institutions.
  • Inclusivity, accessibility, and equity: UAW demanded that UW administration make changes to policies and practices that may result in discrimination and harassment, in an effort to become a more diverse, equitable, and accessible institution.
  • Family-friendly benefits: UAW demanded that UW administration increase support for ASEs with family care roles by evaluating paid parental leave policies, and providing increased access to affordable childcare.
  • Academic quality: UAW demanded that UW administration promote excellence in ASEs’ work assignments in part through improvements to the Teacher’s Assistant (TA) to student ratio and improved adequacy of workspaces.
  • Security of ASE positions: UAW demanded that UW administration improve job security for ASEs in part by increasing the number of fully funded appointments and reducing unnecessary administrative spending.
  • ASE health care: UAW demanded that UW administration expand the access to health care to all ASEs regardless of their FTE, reduce dependent costs, and provide a health plan that is inclusive, cost-effective, and transparent.
  • Union orientation for new ASEs: UAW demanded that UW administration allow for the union to have the fullest access to new ASEs during orientation and onboarding to educate new employees on their rights and responsibilities.

UAW asserted their interest in maintaining all rights, pay, and benefits of the existing collective bargaining agreement not addressed above.

Ground Rules

The parties reached a tentative agreement on a series of ground rules for bargaining, including the expectation that the parties will work on non-economic items first, and all initial proposals will be delivered by the fourth session on March 9.

Next Steps

The next UW-UAW bargaining session is scheduled for February 15.