Amazing! We are in awe — the bargaining survey, completed on October 25, resulted in a 62% response rate from our members. This is a phenomenal return by any standards. Thank you to everyone who participated, especially to all of you who shared your concerns in the hundreds of open-ended comments. We continue to sift through the vast amount of data and all your input. This information will help us negotiate a better contract for all our members. We continue to have departmental meetings to directly hear your concerns and help formulate our strategy for the negotiations ahead.

You have the opportunity to join in the conversation at our Bargaining Retreat this Saturday. We will be going over some of the preliminary findings from the bargaining survey — some messages though are loud and clear — members want us to fight for substantial wage increases, cost of living increases (COLA), and flexible work schedules. This is uniform across all job classifications.

There are several ways to get involved and stay involved in bargaining:

• Attend the all-WAU member Bargaining Retreat this Saturday, November 11 in the Student Center from 10 am – 2 pm for a structured discussion and planning event. We will be joined by Sonya Alvarado of AFT Michigan. RSVP here.

• Academic Staff: Join a virtual discussion of the contract on Wednesday, November 15, 12 pm – 1 pm hosted by the ASSC. RSVP and details here.

• Attend or help organize a unit/department level meeting with your colleagues and representatives from the Bargaining Team or WAU Executive Board. Please contact Michael Williams for further information.

In solidarity,

The Team
(Ali, Angie, Christine, Deborah, Hayg, Kristen, Mark, Pramod)