On Wednesday, October 14th, our elected bargaining committee met with the Mount Sinai administration for our twelfth bargaining session. Two rows of postdocs sat behind the committee as silent observers, bringing the energy of the rally to the negotiating table and showing Mount Sinai that we expect them to reach a fair agreement soon.
Mount Sinai’s team made a counterproposal on Leaves of Absence that included moving from 10 days of guaranteed paid leave for visa renewal to 12 days. Though we think 12 days is not sufficient for many postdocs, it is more than any comparable institution currently offers, and we agreed to it as a sign that we want to keep working toward an agreement.
On our end, we made counterproposals on Housing and Resignation and Exit Interviews. Mount Sinai continues insisting that they cannot provide housing for longer than three years—despite other peer institutions in NYC offering housing for the full duration of employment. In the interest of making progress and re-emphasizing the importance of expanding housing benefits for postdocs regarding the duration of housing and the window to apply for housing, we moved toward Mount Sinai’s position in other areas of our counterproposal. We lowered the time that postdocs can delay their start date from seven weeks to five weeks, and we narrowed the specifications of alternative housing provided to postdocs from type, size, and cost to just type and cost.
Responding to Mount Sinai’s concerns, we simplified our Resignation and Exit Interviews counterproposal by changing exit interviews to an "upon request" basis and aligning interview questions with Mount Sinai’s standard Employee Experience and Departure Survey. Additionally, we retained the requirement for Mount Sinai to promptly share departing postdocs' interview/survey information with the Union to ensure timely receipt of data we are entitled to.
The movement from Mount Sinai on visa renewal leave shows they are starting to make greater efforts at the bargaining table, but they are still bargaining at a glacial pace. After taking more than an hour caucus to discuss our proposals, they only came back with a minor revision to their proposal for Resignation and Exit Interviews.
Mount Sinai made no counterproposal on Compensation. They continue to insist on providing compensation that is below the first contract in terms of real purchasing power, including lower anniversary raises. The 2023 starting compensation of $72,500, if adjusted for inflation, would be $79,636 today (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), almost $5,000 more than the starting compensation Mount Sinai is proposing for the life of the new contract.
It is essential that we keep up the pressure on Mount Sinai and show the administration that postdocs are essential contributors to the research community here—and that unionized scientists across New York City deserve strong rights and protections with fair pay and benefits. The more of us who attend bargaining sessions, the more we can show Mount Sinai that these issues are urgent. We are in the process of scheduling upcoming bargaining sessions, stay tuned for information on how to RSVP to observe a session.
You can access the full text of these proposals using our online bargaining tracker.
Solidarity,
Bremy Alburquerque
SPOC-UAW 4100 Bargaining Committee
SPOC-UAW Local 4100 Proposals:
Resignation and Exit Interviews
Mount Sinai Proposals:
Resignation and Exit Interviews