Last week was an action packed return to bargaining at the table with NIH management after a three week pause. We tentatively agreed to four articles this week. All of these agreements will be subject to a final vote of all Fellows on our full contract.
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Professional Development: After lengthy and sometimes heated debate, we have agreed to a professional development article that includes unprecedented gains that will set a new standard in other academic worker contracts. Our article includes the right to use a minimum 10% of work time for professional development activities for non-FTE Fellows; the right to complete an individual development plan with your supervisor or another mentor; and a measure to increase equity of access to Professional Development opportunities offered by different ICs.
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NIH Facilities and Services: The NIH has agreed that they will continue to offer a wide variety of services and amenities to Fellows and if the NIH proposes to change those services, we will have a say in the outcome.
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Official Time: We won the guaranteed right for Fellows serving as elected union stewards to use paid time off to represent their colleagues (such as processing grievances). This will help make sure all Fellows are supported and will help keep our union strong.
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Fellow Opportunity Announcements: Transparency of information on fellowship job postings could go a long way increasing reach to a broad and inclusive pool of applicants. We won that all opportunity postings on the OITE website will include access to important information like pay and appointment duration.
Our next bargaining session will feature our proposals around a safe and respectful work environment. This includes making sure we have safe drinking water in buildings that aren’t sweltering, that our PIs can’t bully us without consequence, that fellows needing to be reassigned from their lab situation can do so, and expanding protections for Visiting Vellows
NIH management didn’t want Fellows who aren’t on the Bargaining Committee to know any details about the contract negotiations as they went on. But we fought and won that right to communicate what’s happening at the table. NIH management didn’t want to discuss professional development or have any gains made for Fellows surrounding career development. But we fought and won. We know that by standing together, in a public show of our unity, we can make transformative gains for our workplace.
Hundreds of Fellows have now signed on to our Bargaining Platform, add your name today so that when we present it to NIH management they can see that Fellows are united around improving our workplace and our lives. And if you are in Maryland, join us on July 30th when we have a rally for a fair first contract for Fellows. RSVP Here.
In Solidarity,
Ian Fucci, CRTA Postdoc, NCI, Frederick
Tara Fischer, Research Fellow, NINDS, Bethesda
Zohirul Islam, Visiting Fellow, NIAID, Bethesda
Rosa Lafer-Sousa, IRTA Postdoc, NIMH, Bethesda
Alexander Jordan Lara, Postbac, NIDCR, Bethesda
Marjorie Levinstein, IRTA Postdoc, NIDA, Baltimore
Amilcar Rodriguez, Predoc, NIEHS, Research Triangle Park North Carolina
Emilya Ventriglia, Predoc, NIMH, Bethesda