How was this decision made?
Many campuses held membership to discuss unit modification in advance of the January 2023 Joint Council meeting. At that meeting, campus elected representatives for ASEs and GSRs voted by wide majorities to merge Student Researchers United-UAW into UAW Local 2865 and to send a petition to form one bargaining unit to PERB, the state body that regulates public-sector unions.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR BARGAINING?
Last year, the ASE and GSR bargaining units elected separate bargaining teams to negotiate separate contracts. In 2024, a single bargaining unit will elect a single bargaining team to negotiate a single contract with separate provisions for ASEs and GSRs.
HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM AMALGAMATION?
In October, academic workers voted to amalgamate UAW Locals 2865 and 5810. That will have a huge positive impact on our power, but doesn’t affect the formal structure of bargaining. In this case, the ASEs and GSRs who already make up UAW Local 2865 will bargain a single contract to cover all Student Workers.
HOW WILL THE BARGAINING TEAM WORK?
That’s up to us. Student Workers will democratically decide how to structure the 2025 bargaining team, along with other decisions about the structures of the new amalgamated local.
WILL WE STILL BE ABLE TO ADDRESS ISSUES TO ONLY ONE JOB TITLE?
Yes. In many other unions, workers across different titles bargain as a single unit, and the contracts they win contain language specific to each title.