Seattle Councilmember and member of Socialist Alternative Kshama Sawant addresses the crowd of graduate students in Gerberding Hall outside of the office of Ana Mari Cauce.
Members of UAW 4121, the union that represents Academic Student Employees (ASE) on campus, took action by sending a message to the UW administration about the ongoing contract negotiations Monday, April 30, the same day the contract expired.
The letter was delivered to UW President Ana Mari Cauce’s office Monday afternoon by a delegation of union members and leaders after representatives from other unions spoke in support of UAW 4121’s efforts to negotiate with the administration.
Monica Cortes Viharo, a doctoral candidate in the School of Drama, said the union decided last Friday to send the letter to Cauce after being “disheartened” by the lack of movement from the administration in their last session. The group gathered outside of Gerberding Hall in Red Square before going to Cauce’s office.
“We are fighting for a fair and equitable contract that recognize the skyrocketing costs of living in this city, as well as the rampant inequity, harassment, the fact we don’t have trans-inclusive healthcare for our trans members,” Viharo said on the front steps of Gerberding Hall. “Those are all issues this university could address and chooses not to.”
Viharo expressed that the union does not want to strike, although they will organize action if necessary and said that she was in the middle of writing her dissertation.
“It disrupts everything we came here to do,” Viharo said of wanting to avoid a strike.
Members from M.L. King County Labor Council, SEIU Local 925, SEIU Local 1199NW, WFSE Local 1488, and other unions represented on campus came out to show their solidarity and support of UAW 4121 bargaining efforts. Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant was also in attendance.
Nicole Grant, a trained electrician and a leader of the M.L. King County Labor Council spoke in support of UAW 4121 before the group went to Cauce’s office.
“We’ve got your back … the work that you guys are doing on issues like trans health, on issues like sexual harassment in the workplace — the issues you’re bargaining on [are] teaching the entire labor movement how to stand up for itself and how to be stronger,” Grant said. “So we are going to back you to the wall, wherever you want to go until you win.”
Paula Lukaszek, a plumber at the UW and president of WFSE Local 1488 lead a call and response of the word “strike” when she first addressed the small crowd of union members and representatives.
“What happens with these guys [UAW 4121] is what [UW’s] going to offer the rest of the unions,” Lukaszek said and gave her support of UAW 4121’s contract negotiations.
When the group went to Cauce’s office to deliver the letter, staff said she was not at work. After Viharo read the letter out loud and presented it to staff, Sawant spoke to the group crowded in the entrance to the president’s office.
Sawant criticized the administration’s bargaining efforts and called the university’s pay to it’s employees “disgraceful.”
“If you go on strike I will be walking the picket line with you,” Sawant said.
The contract expires the night of April 30, and the union leaders of UAW 4121 were authorized to strike in a historical vote by the members.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is made available. Members from the UW administration could not be reached for comment by the time of publication.
Update Monday night:
According to an email from Victor Balta, senior director of media relations and spokesperson for the UW, Cauce was in Bellingham today. She met with the Bellingham Herald, members of the Rotary Club of Bellingham, Western Washington University President Sabah Randhawa, and visited a UW alumni group. The visit was scheduled in advance.
“We remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached soon,” he said in an email.
UAW 4121 union leaders sent an email to members explaining their latest proposal. GPSS President Elloise Kim forwarded the email to The Daily.
“Our new proposal includes a 3 percent wage increase to the base rate of salaried ASEs and a six percent increase for hourly employees…removing all current student fees ($317 a quarter), amount to an eight percent effective pay raise for salaried ASEs,” the email said.
The new proposal is a “one-year package deal to continued deliberation by the Washington State Legislature on the Paid Family and Medical Leave Initiative 1633. Rulings on this initiative have the potential to benefit ASEs in the future and we want to be able to codify them in out contract through the bargaining process once they are settled,” the email explained.
The email said that the bargaining committee is prepared to stay until midnight or until an agreement is made.
Reach ASUW reporter Emily Gilbert at news@dailyuw.com. Twitter @EmilyG54321
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