Yesterday, our Bargaining Committee met for the sixth time with JHU admin. We were joined by ten observers, who were able to witness JHU admin reveal some disappointing proposals and counters. Most notably, admin proposed suspensions without pay at their sole discretion regardless of visa concerns, and they want full entitlement to shorten the initial appointment length to less than one year. Although no Tentative Agreements (TAs) were reached, we made it clear in our introduced and counter proposals that we are committed to improving the postdoc experience here at Hopkins and ensuring our collective well-being. You can follow along with our progress and read the proposals on our Bargaining Tracker, and we encourage any interested postdocs to join future bargaining sessions as an observer.
JHU admin began the session by passing us their counterproposals on Discipline and Discharge, Appointment and Reappointment, and Bargaining Unit Information. In Discipline and Discharge, the JHU admin proposed investigatory suspensions without pay, at their sole discretion before any determination is made, for an indefinite amount of time and without backpay if the postdoc is found innocent. JHU admin suggested cases involving suspected Title IX violations or scientific misconduct as relevant examples of justification for indefinitely suspending postdocs without pay, but we pointed out that faculty are often suspended with pay for these cases, if they are suspended at all. We brought up additional concerns about immigration and visa status during suspensions without pay, and the JHU admin said they didn’t want to pay postdocs who were not “performing services.” We will give their suggestions all the consideration they’re due as we draft our counterproposal.
JHU admin also introduced a new proposal for Appointment and Reappointment, which reasserted their stance that postdoc appointments are terminal positions and not entitled to the security of job renewal subject to just cause. They also proposed that the initial appointment term length be even shorter than one year at the University’s discretion. When we questioned their rationale and highlighted our shared experience, JHU admin seemed surprised to hear that some postdocs receive their appointment letters late or not at all, despite this being a common complaint we hear and work to help resolve.
In their counter of our Bargaining Unit Information proposal, JHU admin claimed that we didn’t need to know postdocs’ visa status to adequately represent our bargaining unit, and they do not currently know who everyone’s supervisors are. We are now working on our counterproposals to these articles, with the goal of improving the postdoc experience at Hopkins and making the University an equitable and productive workplace.
We then passed the JHU admin our proposals for Health and Safety; Public Safety, Security, and After-Hours Access; Inclusive Work Environment; and Union Rights. The purpose of these articles is to ensure that Hopkins is a safe workplace that fosters an inclusive and equitable environment, and that the Union can function effectively without unnecessary hindrance from the JHU admin. After a caucus, we then passed the JHU admin our counterproposal for Grievance and Arbitration Procedure, which reestablished much of our original language with some reasonable compromises. We are now waiting on responses from the JHU admin.
We ended the session by providing the JHU admin with 21 available dates for the summer, and we requested a cadence of at least three or more bargaining sessions per month so that we can reach a final contract that reflects the value we provide to JHU as soon as possible.
Our next bargaining session is Wednesday, May 27th, at 11am-2pm on the East Baltimore Campus (room TBD). We encourage any interested postdocs to RSVP to be an observer and hear for yourself what the JHU admin’s priorities are at the bargaining table.
In solidarity,
Amanda Shaver, Biology
Ben Seicol, Otolaryngology/ Head & Neck Surgery
Cat LaCourse, Pediatrics
Jaime Eugenin von Bernhardi, Neuroscience
Mitch Cram, University Writing Program
Saakshi Dulani, Physics & Astronomy, Philosophy
Tianyu Cao, Pathology
PRO-UAW Bargaining Committee