Our elected bargaining committee met yesterday for our third bargaining session with Johns Hopkins administration. We introduced our newly elected committee member, Saakshi Dulani, and the team from JHU administration introduced their new labor consultant for postdocs. It was a productive session in which both sides passed proposals and counter-proposals, and we reached one tentative agreement (TA).
To open the session, we reached a TA on our Labor Management Committee article. You can see the language for the TA and follow along with all of the proposed and tracked changes in our Bargaining Tracker. We asked some clarifying questions about their counter-proposals to our Severability article, and the Term of Agreement article they introduced in our last session. We agreed to defer negotiation of our contract’s Term of Agreement to economic article negotiations.
We then presented some new non-economic article proposals, including Workspace and Materials, Travel, Job Posting, Employment Records, and Grievance and Arbitration Procedure. In turn, the team from JHU presented us with proposals on Management Rights, No Strike No Lockout, and Layoff, which we are now assessing.
Following a caucus, JHU administration returned to present their counter-proposals to our Recognition and Discipline and Discharge proposals, which we introduced at our last bargaining session. The changes they suggested on Recognition relate to the definition of our bargaining unit, which proposes language that excludes beyond what was agreed to in our National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certification
The proposed changes to Discipline and Discharge are extensive, with entire paragraphs crossed out and new paragraphs added. Notably, JHU administration crossed out language that we had included, which affirmed the legal Weingarten right to representation, asserted backpay for improper discipline or discharge, required a written warning and opportunity to improve before discharge for work performance, and protected international workers under investigation. Given the initial rejection of these and other provisions by the team from JHU, we are reviewing and drafting our counter-proposal.
You can check the status and read each article proposal and counter-proposal in our Bargaining Tracker. If you have thoughts on what we outlined above or after reviewing the bargaining tracker, please reach out to us and let us know what you think.
Our next bargaining session will be held on March 18th at 8:00am, with the exact location also to be determined. We will send out an update once we are able to confirm these details as soon as possible. Additionally, we encourage observers to join our future bargaining proceedings in-person, so that the process can be as transparent as possible. If you’re interested in attending future bargaining sessions in-person, please let us know and be on the lookout for an RSVP form to be distributed early next week.
Summary of introduced PRO-UAW proposals:
Job Posting – Establishes process, information and timeline requirements for postdoctoral job openings at JHU.
Travel – Establishes a consistent policy for booking and reimbursed for work-related travel.
Workspace and Materials – Establishes minimum requirements and reimbursement policy for our workspaces and materials necessary for our work.
Employment Records – Establishes guidelines to ensure accuracy, accessability, and confidentiality of postdoctoral employment records while at JHU.
Grievance and Arbitration Procedure – Establishes a formal procedure under which violations of the contract can be adjudicated.
Summary of introduced JHU proposals:
Layoff – Establishes the definition and procedure by which JHU would follow to administer layoffs of postdocs.
Management Rights – Establishes actions JHU may take regarding matters outside the scope of the contract.
No Strike, No Lockout – Establishes when we may participate in collective actions and whether or not the University can lock out union members.
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