Sinai proposes worse economic terms than our status quo and insists on introducing a probationary period
In our fourth bargaining session this past Monday, Sinai responded to all of our economic proposals and countered or reasserted articles they had proposed in previous sessions. Overall, Sinai's responses demonstrated Sinai's initial approach to these negotiations: to reduce standards for all researchers at our institution by eliminating critical rights, protections, and benefits we've previously agreed to, while resisting meaningful engagement on high-priority, essential improvements we've proposed at the table.
Throughout their responses, Sinai has rejected nearly all of the improvements we have proposed so far. Sinai’s proposals include:
Worse terms than our status quo (current contract) on Compensation and Relocation Assistance;
Elimination of the Emergency Support Fund;
Rejection of any additional assistance for postdocs who are parents, including no contributions to postdocs’ Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts and no improvements to parental leave;
Rejection of any additional housing support and benefits for postdocs;
Insistence on introducing new restrictions and requirements for postdocs who are taking time off to attend visa and immigration proceedings for themselves or their spouse or children;
Insistence on introducing a longer expected resignation notice period and rejection of guaranteed and standardized exit interviews for postdocs; and
Insistence on introducing a probationary period.
You can find the complete list of Sinai’s proposals in our bargaining tracker here, and a summary below:
Summary of Sinai Proposals:
Childcare (p. 2 of Package Proposal): Sinai rejected our proposal for them to provide financial support to postdocs who are parents.
Compensation (pp. 3–4 of Package Proposal): Sinai rejected our proposed improvements and no longer wants to adjust minimum compensation levels for postdocs based on their years of experience at Sinai. Their proposal freezes the minimum compensation for new postdocs at $74,692 for the life of our second contract, instead of increasing it each year as we agreed to for each year of our first contract (even though it did not increase enough). Furthermore, Sinai wants to decrease the anniversary date minimum compensation increases that every postdoc currently receives by half, from a minimum of 3.0% to only 1.5%.
Emergency Support Fund (p. 5 of Package Proposal): Sinai rejected our proposal and instead wants to eliminate the fund altogether.
Holidays (p. 6 of Package Proposal): Sinai proposes that the additional vacation day granted to a postdoc who needs to work on a holiday now be an additional paid personal day, and that it needs to be used within 60 days of the holiday in the same calendar year. Further, Sinai proposes that this additional paid personal day needs to be agreed upon with the postdoc’s PI.
Housing (pp. 7–8 of Package Proposal): Sinai continues to reject our proposed changes, only responding in this session to one proposed improvement in our proposal regarding the need to extend the period that postdocs can apply for and obtain Mount Sinai Housing. Sinai proposes that postdocs who they consider to have experienced unforeseen hardship or extenuating circumstances may have an extended application period for the Mount Sinai housing waitlist.
Leaves of Absence (pp. 9–12 of Package Proposal): Sinai agrees with the addition of granting postdocs prenatal leave in accordance with applicable law, but has rejected our proposal to increase the number of weeks granted to postdocs for parental leave. For leave that grants postdocs time off to attend visa and immigration proceedings for themselves or their spouse or children (commonly referred to as “visa renewal leave”), Sinai is now proposing to limit it to 8 paid days off and has introduced new restrictions and requirements for postdocs who take this leave. This includes rejecting our proposed language that postdocs can only be expected to respond to reasonable, lawful requests for information related to their visa status that is needed by Sinai to continue their appointment, to the extent such expectation of a response is allowed under applicable law.
Probationary Period (p. 13 of Package Proposal): Sinai continues to insist on introducing this new article, which strips just cause (job security) protections from newly appointed postdocs for the first 6 to 8 months of their employment, allowing Sinai to terminate our employment at any time without just cause.
Relocation Assistance (p. 14 of Package Proposal): Sinai continues to propose that postdocs have to submit supporting documentation of relocation and receipts within a certain time from relocation to be eligible to receive this assistance, and rejected our proposed increase from $1,500 to $3,000 to account for how much of this assistance payment is withheld as taxes. Instead, they propose to provide up to $1,600 for postdocs hired on or after July of this year, and to increase that cap by $100 per year for postdocs hired on or after July of the next two years.
Resignation and Exit Interviews (pp. 15–16 of Package Proposal): Sinai countered that postdocs are expected to provide thirty days’ notice of their resignation. Sinai also rejected our proposal that Sinai offer exit interviews conducted by the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs to all postdocs who resign or whose employment as a postdoc is otherwise ending, and that the Union is notified of resignations so that we can be present at these exit interviews, where the questions that postdocs have expressed are important to get responses to on the record are asked by Sinai.
Summary of SPOC-UAW Local 4100 Proposals:
Appendix: Panel of Arbitrators: We proposed an experienced, well-suited arbitrator to serve on our panel of arbitrators as a neutral third party in the event that we cannot resolve a grievance with Sinai and have to appeal to an arbitrator. We will continue negotiating with Sinai over who will serve on this panel of 3 arbitrators so that we have an agreed-upon panel in place for our second contract.
With our contract expiring in less than three weeks, it is essential that we keep up the pressure on Sinai and show the administration that postdocs are essential contributors to the research community here—and that it is unacceptable to take away essential rights and resist real solutions to major crises postdocs are facing in NYC. If you want to get more involved in the campaign, fill out this form.
The next bargaining session will take place tomorrow, June 12th, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. You can RSVP to join here!
Solidarity,
Bremy Alburquerque, Genetics and Genomic Sciences
SPOC-UAW 4100 Bargaining Committee