Topline Summary:
On Wednesday, our elected Bargaining Committee met with the JHU admin for the 17th time, and we were joined by two postdoc observers. If you’re interested in being an observer at future bargaining sessions to watch the process and hear the admin’s rationalizations firsthand, you can sign up here. Both we and the JHU admin passed counter-proposals, and we were able to reach three (3) Tentative Agreements (TAs) on the following articles: Health and Safety, Inclusive Work Environment, and Bargaining Unit Information. We won some ground on Public Safety, which the admin countered rather than rejecting again, but the JHU admin’s counter on Intellectual Property struck most of our language. We are getting closer to agreeing on several articles, though, and both sides want to move to economic bargaining. Debate at the table can only do so much, so to help us move the admin, we have an open letter to President Daniels that a near-majority of postdocs have signed, but we still need more signatures and you can sign the letter here. If you’re interested in strategizing our economic priorities and talking about how we can win them, come to our next General Meeting next Tuesday at 6pm.
Our Counter-Proposals:
We began the session by presenting the JHU admin with three counter-proposals. In drafting these counters, we have kept in mind the policies we expressed as high priority in our Initial Bargaining Demands, which were voted on and ratified by a majority of us and informed by the bargaining surveys that we completed in the beginning of the year. Keeping that in mind, and in order to make progress on these and other articles, we accepted many of the changes the admin proposed in these counters, while still pushing to codify legal and policy protections and win a comprehensive contract that will improve working conditions for us.
- Health and Safety (TA): Although we accepted many of the changes the JHU admin made in their last counter, we established that much of it is covered by law or other proposals, and we added in alternative protections. We codified that OSHA regulations allow us to accompany workplace inspections and walkthroughs, and bathroom stocking is now covered in Inclusive Work Environment. Rather than mandating that reported findings on hazardous workplaces be shared with impacted postdocs, our counter stipulates that our requests for findings not be unreasonably denied. We also asked that safety trainings may be discussed and adjusted through the Labor-Management Committee, which will include postdoc representatives. The admin did not push back on any of our changes, and the final article TA sufficiently codifies law and policy and incorporates additional protections for our health and safety.
- Inclusive Work Environment (TA): We accepted deferral to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and JHU policy for disability accommodations, and we agreed to a more flexible timeline for updating University systems when we postdocs select a chosen name and pronouns, but we insisted that we be allowed to change our chosen name on IDs more than once for free. We verbally agreed that persistent misgendering constitutes harassment, and we agreed that bathroom stocking is not subject to the grievance and arbitration procedure. Finally, we codified legal obligations and JHU policy around religious practices, pregnancy-related accommodations, and accommodations for parents. The admin agreed to TA this article without additional changes.
- Bargaining Unit Information (TA): Within the list of information to be provided to the union, we insisted that percent effort be included so we can more easily monitor and detect that we all are being compensated adequately per the terms of our appointment. We also agreed that more sensitive information will be given in aggregate, and we agreed to accept this data without department-level breakdown, although we insisted on receiving the information monthly instead of the admin’s suggestion of annually. Ultimately, we negotiated to receive it quarterly in the final TA.
JHU Admin’s Counter-Proposals:
Before the caucus, the JHU admin presented us with two counter-proposals.
- Intellectual Property: The counter that the JHU admin gave us was mostly red, with the majority of our proposal crossed out again, but they provided more explanation. While we proposed that we be permitted to be PIs on grants that we qualify for, the admin claimed that we are ineligible for all grants and may only apply for fellowships, and thus struck the entire section. The admin later stated that we can apply for some grants such as K99. For authorship disputes, the admin suggested that arbitrators couldn’t understand the context, and therefore it should not be subject to the grievance and arbitration procedure and should only be decided through University processes. We later asked about the JHU’s Research Integrity Process, and they said they would send us the policy to review. They struck four additional sections that covered licensing, open access support, holding authorship, and no retaliation, citing only that we were asking for too much. We are drafting our counter, taking into consideration what the intellectual property rights are for faculty and what other unionized postdocs have won in their first contracts.
- Public Safety: After passing the JHU admin several different versions of our Public Safety proposal and having each rejected entirely, the admin gave us a counter on our last proposal. They agreed that public safety concerns may be raised with the Labor-Management Committee, and they largely accepted our section that stipulates that JHU will not involve law enforcement for non-criminal conduct. However, they struck out language codifying our rights freedom of expression and peaceful demonstrations, which would protect us from being targeted for engaging in peaceful protest, and they rejected a stipulation that the union be notified of changes to the operation of the JHPD. The admin later stated that freedom of expression is a core value of the University, and there are existing University policies that cover it, but those are subject to change at the whim of the administration. Although there is progress to be made on this article, we now have a counter from the admin to work with.
Our Questions:
After the caucus, we asked the JHU admin a series of questions on the counters they passed us and revisited some of their previous counters. On Non-Discrimination, Harassment, and No Retaliation article, we asked what the current policy is to deal with bullying, and the admin explained that it goes through HR if the bullying isn’t based on a protected class.
On Discipline and Discharge, we clarified that interim measures are temporary resolutions such as a no-contact order, and remedial measures are separate from discipline. When we asked about how employee records are maintained with respect to disciplinary action, the admin said that the records are kept confidential and live with HR or OIE, depending on who handled the investigation. We are pushing for international postdocs to be notified if they may be fired as a result of an investigation, but when asked about this, the admin claimed that any investigation could lead to firing. We then asked how the determination would be made to suspend a postdoc with or without pay, and they answered it would depend on how egregious the misconduct was, even though they had just claimed to never know how serious an investigation will be. With current JHU policy, we are only ever suspended with pay, but the JHU admin has suggested putting suspensions without pay into our contract. We are giving their answers to our questions all the consideration they’re due while we continue to work on counters.
How can YOU help win a great contract?
While this session was productive, we still have issues left to resolve before we can get to bargaining over our economic conditions like pay, benefits, and childcare. Below are three ways that you can play an important role in conveying to the JHU admin that we want a contract that addresses our needs, priorities, and concerns now!
- Sign our Open Letter: Nearly a majority of postdocs have signed our open letter calling on the JHU admin to resolve our remaining non-economic issues with real improvements put together from all of our collective input. If you have not already, read and add your name to the open letter today by clicking the link to show the JHU admin that we stand together on these issues!
- Sign up to be an observer for a future bargaining session: Our next bargaining session is next Wednesday, October 28th from 9:00am-12:00pm on the Eastern Administrative Campus near the Homewood Campus on East 33rd street. The more of us who attend these sessions, the more the JHU admin understands how committed we all are to winning a great contract. Click the link and RSVP so someone from our team can reach out and coordinate plans for attending our next session.
- Discuss compensation, benefits, and more at our Economics General Meeting this Tuesday: Ready to talk money? Our Bargaining Committee is. Come to our General Meeting next Tuesday to discuss and strategize our economic priorities that we want to win in our first contract, and how we plan to win them. The meeting will be held in-person on both East Baltimore and Homewood campuses, and virtually via Zoom. Click on the link to the RSVP form here to review for more details, and fill it out even if you’re not able to make it.
Our next bargaining session is Wednesday, October 28th from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM on the Eastern Admin Campus (1101 E. 33rd Street, ~1 mile east of the Homewood Campus). Fill out this form to let us know that you can make it and coordinate a plan with fellow postdocs to attend. You can also follow along with all current proposals and bargaining updates using our Bargaining Tracker linked here.
As always, please reach out to us at this email or individually to any of our Bargaining Committee members listed below if you have any questions or thoughts about our bargaining process.
In solidarity,
Andrew Chelius, Health, Behavior, and Society
Austin Ramsey, Cell Biology
Ben Seicol, Otolaryngology/ Head & Neck Surgery
Cat LaCourse, Pediatrics
Jaime Eugenin von Bernhardi, Neuroscience
Saakshi Dulani, Physics & Astronomy, Philosophy
Tianyu Cao, Pathology
PRO-UAW Bargaining Committee