UW Libraries: ON STRIKE! U Washington Libraries & Press staff vote to take a one-day strike Thursday, October 13.

 

UW Libraries: ON STRIKE!

Community Petition: We Support UW Libraries and Press Strike!

Dear President Ana Mari Cauce, Chancellor Lange, Chancellor Esterberg, Dean Neame, and Dean Lawson,

We have signed this petition in support of the professional staff and librarians at the UW Libraries, Gallagher Law Library, and UW Press.

The UW Libraries Union has been in contract negotiations for over a year for their first collective bargaining agreement. During this time, they have asserted the need for fair pay, concrete progress toward equity and anti-racism goals, and codification of the reality that professional staff and academic librarians are equally essential and valuable and deserve comparable rights and protections. Their Bargaining Team put forth numerous reasonable and well-researched proposals to ensure that UW Libraries, Gallagher Law Library, and UW Press employees are appropriately supported and compensated for their mission-critical work, contributions, and expertise.

Rather than engaging in a shared effort to achieve greater equity, better working conditions, and fair pay, the UW has largely failed to respond to their articulated goals, instead proposing the erosion or elimination of existing benefits and protections. These counterproductive actions come at the direct expense of employee well-being and have prompted more than 30 UW Libraries and Press Union members in the last year alone to resign in pursuit of better pay and working conditions elsewhere. The employer’s tactic of dragging out negotiations undermines the mission of the institution and all their work in support of us: University of Washington students, faculty, staff, and community members. 

WE SUPPORT THE UW LIBRARIES AND PRESS STAFF IN THEIR FIGHT FOR A FAIR CONTRACT. 

We believe that UW Libraries and Press workers deserve fair pay, and that fair compensation is essential for them to continue supporting the UW academic community and residents of the state of Washington. We echo their call for the University of Washington to stop delaying negotiations, stop eroding workplace protections, and stop proposing a two-tiered system between professional staff and librarians. 

Petition is here: 

Community Petition: We Support UW Libraries and Press Strike! Survey (research.net)