Our Bargaining Committee celebrated May Day on Friday by having our fifth bargaining session with the JHU admin. The session was productive, with one Tentative Agreement (TA) signed on our Severability article. We passed two additional counters to the JHU admin (Job Posting and Discipline and Discharge) and introduced our article Bargaining Unit Information. There was a lot of active discussion back and forth among all members of both teams, and two postdoc observers were able to witness the discourse. We encourage any interested postdocs to RSVP to observe future sessions here! Our next session will be Monday, May 11th from 10:00am-1:00pm (location TBD on the East Baltimore campus).
We first passed our counterproposals for Severability, Job Posting, and Discipline and Discharge across the table. We struck language JHU added to Severability that specifically called out No Strike No Lockout, and this is the version that the JHU admin ultimately agreed to TA on. Our counterproposal on Job Posting was similar to our initial proposal, which the admin had countered with one brief sentence deferring any action to 2028. The chief negotiator for JHU admin suggested that postdocs find job openings exclusively by networking, and we explained why that is insufficient for creating an equitable workplace. After a caucus, the JHU admin returned with a more reasonable counterproposal that reduced the posting requirements but retained much of our language. We are working on drafting our counterproposal to this.
We then passed our counterproposal for Discipline and Discharge. While the admin suggested that postdocs are terminal positions with a strictly short term, we brought forward many examples of formal JHU postdoc job descriptions that clearly say renewal is dependent on performance, as opposed to being an inherently transient position. We’re now waiting on a counter from the JHU admin. We also introduced our proposal for our Bargaining Unit Information article, which details what biographical information the Union will receive, and we’re waiting on a counter from the JHU admin.
After giving the JHU admin our articles, we asked some clarifying questions about their previous counterproposals. In defining our bargaining unit under Recognition, the JHU admin wants to exclude categories of postdocs who were included in our NLRB filing and election, claiming that benefits are not sufficient compensation to qualify. Additionally, under the JHU proposal for No Strike, No Lockout, a postdoc could be immediately fired for any activities that may be construed as a strike, including hand-billing, so we asked why they are reaching above and beyond legal strike restrictions. JHU admin claimed that postdocs don’t understand what is and is not legal. We are giving their responses to our questions all the consideration they are due as we draft our counterproposals.
Although the session was not without tension, satisfying progress was made. We are particularly pleased with the movement on Job Posting, which went from a one-sentence counter from JHU to thoughtful track changes to our language. We attribute this movement to organizing efforts outside of the bargaining room; participation in union events like our recent bargaining unit meeting and ongoing IBD ratification vote helps to demonstrate to the JHU admin that we have power. As always, you can follow along with the status of our proposals and how bargaining is going by using our bargaining tracker linked here and on our website.
Summary of PRO–UAW Proposals:
Severability (TA) – Establishes that parts of the contract can be automatically invalidated if determined to be illegal.
Job Posting – Establishes process, information and timeline requirements for postdoctoral job openings at JHU.
Discipline and Discharge – Sets the process and circumstances under which a postdoctoral worker can be disciplined, suspended, or fired.
Bargaining Unit Information – Details information and cadence about our bargaining unit members that our Union will receive from JHU admin on a regular basis to aid in record keeping.
Summary of JHU Admin Proposals:
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