This session made significant progress to non-economic issues as we  countered modified operations and we reached a tentative agreement (details below). The biggest win from our previous tentative agreements and these articles is that postdocs will no longer be at will employees and have clearer communication over their job expectations! 

Below is a summary of the tentative agreements:

• Appointments — Guaranteeing a 1 year appointment without layoff and a minimum 1 year reappointment unless mutually agreed on by postdoc and advisor. Reappointments are subject to loss of funding layoffs.
• Performance expectations and progress assessment — Job position descriptions are to follow a standardized template and provided to the Postdoc upon hire. Individual Development Plans (IDP) will be used to track progress on professional goals. Postdocs may submit goals and expectations to advisors for approval
• Layoff —  Involuntary separation or a reduction in duration of appointment for a Postdoc after the first year of the initial appointment as a result of appropriate funding becoming unavailable.
• Performance expectations and progress assessment — Clear guidelines for written communication on work expectations and procedure for Advisor and Postdoc to reach a mutual agreement.
• Time and effort commitment — Emphasis on a 40 hour work week with flexibility to accommodate postdocs who wish to work more than 40 hours. Mechanisms for disputing deviations from a reasonable schedule.
• Personnel files — Documentation of work related documentation. Postdocs right to rebuttal any files placed in the personnel file.

PWU countered:

• Modified operation — Clear guidelines when modified operations are declared. Protection against pay loss and not taking a day off if impossibility to report to work due to unsafe conditions or public transport closures. It also delineates the type of work you can be asked to perform in those exceptional conditions.

Once the contract is in place, we will have renewable 1-year appointments with the 1st year free of layoff and a minimum of 90 days notice in case of non-renewal. However; OHSU team is not countering any of our economical proposals until mediation, PWU presented a powerpoint containing all our justifications for those proposals. We used data that we requested from OHSU as well as data and testimonies from our different surveys (thanks to all for answering). The powerpoint has been shared with the OHSU team so they can bring it to management.

OHSU team was not willing to schedule any other bargaining session before Tuesday April 16th - which will be the start of mediation. Once again their actions make us think that their goal is to bring this contract to an impasse. Meaning that as a union we will have a choice to either accept their best last offer or authorize a strike. The BTeam will do everything to not get to that extent, and we are still hoping to avoid it but we have to prepare for it. If you have any questions about this process please send us an email. We want to thank all the postdocs who are attending online and giving us their feedback during the caucus. Your presence means a lot to us and gives us the energy to keep fighting for all of us! 

In solidarity, 
Your PWU Bargaining Team