Thread by @UAW4121

STORY TIME: How did we win our union through #4121organizing? 🧵

In 1999, inspired by academic student worker organizing around the country (including at University of California, where nearly 10,000 ASEs formed @uaw2865!), ASEs at UW started organizing for our own union so we could have a collective voice for improving conditions here.

By Fall 2000, we demonstrated supermajority support for our union TWICE among all Teaching Assistants, Readers, Graders, and Tutors. But UW admin refused to recognize our union, so we decided to strike at the end of Fall Quarter. Our yes vote? Manually tallied!

On June 1, 2001, we began a 15-day strike. Our labor community showed huge solidarity - mail carriers didn’t deliver mail to campus, buses drivers rerouted, construction workers halted projects, & many walked the picket lines. 🚫📬🚌🏗️🚫

This is still the longest strike in UW history!

At long last, admin agreed to help pass the bill that established our collective bargaining framework. By 2004, ASEs bargained our first contract to establish critical rights and protections that we’ve continued to improve since. 📝

UW Postdocs were inspired by ASEs & by PD organizing @uaw5810. In 2011, 4121 members worked with UW Postdocs to pass a bill that established Postdocs' right to unionize! In 2016, UW Postdocs confirmed unanimous support from active members to join the Local.

In February 2017, Postdocs began to sign authorization cards to form a union. On October 3, 2017, we officially filed with PERC for a union election. Here is Carolyn Brotherton, one of our Postdoc organizers, delivering the cards!

After a PERC hearing over which Postdoc job titles would be included in the unit and an organized occupation of Gerberding Hall, we got UW to agree to stop delaying the election. Our Postdoc vote was held in May 2018 and a majority of all 1,100 UW Postdocs voted #UnionYes!

We began bargaining our 1st Postdoc contract in June 2018. After almost a year of negotiations without agreement on key issues like sexual harassment, 100s of Postdocs turned out to a work session on harassment in academia with @CMTMosqueda.

We finally won our first Postdoc contract with key protections for harassment, wages, childcare, & more. We’ve since negotiated our second contract, further improving rights & protections for UW Postdocs.

We now represent 6000 ASEs and Postdocs at UW. Looking at our history reminds us that our strength is bolstered by the relationships we’ve built within and beyond our campus.

While this history looks back, similar fights for a democratic say at work are actively ongoing, including our union family @GWCUAW & @BAmazonUnion. We’re once again reminded that solidarity is & must be forever! 💪

Today, we’re in bargaining for our next ASE contract & we’re continuing the fight for a more equitable UW! In this & any other fight, we know #4121Organizing is one of our strongest tools for building the future we all want and need. #UnionStrong