Bargaining Update + T-shirt/Button Day TODAY 🐝
Our bargaining Team meets with management again today for another bargaining session. Are you wearing your shirts and/or pins? Visibility makes a difference!
Here’s what happened last session:
Bargaining on April 2, 2024
Benefit cost increases
The bargaining team was given another unannounced presentation by the Academy’s benefits consultants from HUB International about increasing benefit costs.
Management proposes to assume the bulk of the increase, with our bargaining unit members taking on a smaller proportion. In management’s proposal, the proportion passed on to employees would be distributed using tiers based on earnings, in a similar fashion to the existing scheme.
Our Bargaining Team will be meeting to discuss the merits of the Academy’s proposition, including a consultation with the SEIU Research Team regarding the state of the Academy’s financials, to better determine our next steps in negotiations.
What do you think about benefits increases and our current cost sharing scheme? Contact your Bargaining Team representative or anyone on the Contract Action Team. What do your colleagues think?
Tentative agreements
Time Off for Voting! Our first tentative agreement. This article of our contract, if we ratify it, will ensure time off to vote in local elections.
Continuing negotiations
More discussion over Appendix A, specifically regarding union eligibility within the accounting department.
Coming up
Management would like to talk to the Bargaining Team about the budget deficit that it has forecast.
Stay informed
Track bargaining on contract articles with our tracker sheet.
Get involved
Talk to your colleagues, attend a meeting. Check the Cal Academy Workers United Google Calendar.
April news
Upset about management’s layoff talk and wondering what to do?
If you do one thing, do this
Make our union visible. This is a very simple but time-tested way to let management know that layoff talk is not acceptable. Here's how:
Wear your CalAcademy Workers United button every day until we have a contract.
Wear your CalAcademy Workers United T-shirt every Tuesday until we have a contract.
Make your Academy profile picture the CAWU emblem until we have a contract. Get it here.
Vote for our new t-shirt slogan by Friday!
No T-shirt? Wear a black top and your CAWU button. We are currently out of shirts. No button? Bargaining Team members and CAT volunteers have buttons. If you don’t have one, ask around to get another.
Perspective on layoff talk
If the past is prologue, we can expect that Academy management will keep trying to hoard as much power as they can until they see that we are capable of coordinated collective action. These simple actions are very effective in demonstrating that…but only when we all join in!
Remember, one year ago, management declined the opportunity to work constructively with us and campaigned against our vision of more democracy and accountability. We kept on organizing though… and in the recognition election, 77% of us voted for a union.
This year, we are putting the idea of having a say over our wages and working conditions into practice by negotiating our first contract. For the contract to become binding, a majority of our colleagues must ratify it with a vote, and management must agree to it as well. Unlike last year, when labor law forced management to recognize our union vote, there is no law that forces management to agree to any contract. To successfully ratify our first contract, we need to keep our bargaining hand strong and ensure that management takes our union seriously. To do that—we all need to keep organizing and participating.
More actions you can take
Participate in all the visibility actions described in this email—plus discuss the importance of doing so with your colleagues
Sign up for CAWU membership if you haven’t yet!
Encourage your colleagues to sign up for membership, and discuss why it matters.
CAT can use your help!
We can always use more folks to help out on the Contract Action Team, whether you’re up for a small but important research project or an ongoing time commitment. Get in touch at c...@calacademyworkersunited.org if you’d like to help:
Welcome all of our colleagues to our union
Facilitate member-to-member communication
Facilitate member participation in the bargaining process
Research information to support bargaining
Bargaining updates
Curious how it works?
The Bargaining Team has met 8 times with management since November 2023. Meetings are typically held at the Academy on Tuesday afternoons and usually last for around 2-3 hours, with breaks for our team and management to meet privately (called caucusing) in order to discuss proposals and counter proposals for contract articles.
What’s been proposed
In the first formal contract bargaining session on December 19, the Bargaining Team proposed 7 articles. On March 5, they proposed Appendix A, clarifying all positions that should be union eligible. During these 8 sessions, Management has brought 2 contract items to the table: A list of rules it thinks the Bargaining Team should follow in negotiations and a clarification of rights they want to retain once we have a contract. Notably, management has also proposed five non-contractual items that they want to impose immediately. You might be familiar with these from previous CAWU newsletters:
The 3.5% pay increase effective in January 2024
Accepted by BT exactly as introduced by management, but note that management said on March 20, 2024 that this increase was a “key driver” of its forecasted FY 2025 budget deficit
COVID policy changes
Immediate changes rejected by BT in favor of negotiating related contract articles
A promotion policy
Immediate changes rejected by BT in favor of negotiating related contract articles
Job title changes
Rejected by BT
Adding language about benefits for domestic partners to handbook
Accepted by BT
The most recent contract bargaining session, March 19, was entirely taken up with two non-contractual management presentations: one on health insurance costs, and one that was the same “fiscal news” presentation given to all staff the following morning. So far there have been no tentative agreements on any of the contract articles brought to the table. But the next bargaining session is tomorrow, April 2… and we are hoping for progress on the articles proposed.
For more information on progress, view our contract article tracker.
Contractual Articles and items on the table since December:
No Discrimination
Time to Vote
Discipline and Discharge
Grievance and Arbitration
Union Representation
Union Security
Recognition
On the table since January
Management Rights (introduced by management)
Introduced in March
Appendix A (list of union-eligible positions)
Articles our Bargaining Team is readying for introduction
Seniority and Layoff
Selection and Hiring
Calendar
3 April, Wednesday, 12:00–1:00pm
CAT general meeting
L2-E large. Making connections, bargaining support, and more.
25 April, Thursday, 12:00–1:45pm
All-Unit Lunch Meeting
In the Classroom this month. (near the Naturalist Center) Our monthly opportunity for in-person bargaining and organizing updates and discussion. Lunch provided.
28 April, Sunday, 2:00–3:00pm
Zoom Gathering
Can’t meet in person? Attend your monthly union meeting in cyberspace! Get the latest news about bargaining and have your questions answered by members of your bargaining team. Share your thoughts. Join here:
Meeting ID: 852 3251 5547
One tap mobile +16699006833
Ongoing events
For more event information, meeting times, and locations, check (or subscribe to) the CalAcademy Workers United Google Calendar.
Membership
Sign up for union membership today! Signing up for membership is different from signing the authorization card during our organizing campaign in 2023.
Union membership will allow you to participate in any votes on our first contract.
The more staff that are signed up as union members, the stronger the Bargaining Team will be during negotiations. Just like you have heard us say over this past year: One Academy, One Union. We are stronger together.
Connections
Office hours
Hosted by your bargaining unit representative and CAT members—be on the lookout and keep an ear to the ground for dates and times. Ask your colleagues and check the calendar. If you don’t see anything, reach out and inquire!
Bargaining Team
Email bar...@calacademyworkersunited.org. Or strike up a conversation with a member of the team!
Contract Action Team
Members (like you!) volunteering to facilitate communication amongst their colleagues on contract bargaining. CAT plans and organizes events and actions throughout the negotiation process to build the power of our union. The Contract Action Team welcomes volunteers. Just show up at a meeting… ask around… or email c...@calacademyworkersunited.org.
March news and important updates
Progress
Our Bargaining Team has been hammering out tentative agreements over union recognition, non-discrimination, and paid time off for voting. Recognition has to do with how management agrees to relate to our work. Will meeting space be made available to us? How will we place bulletin boards? How will dues deductions be made? How will management support (or hinder) the work of shop stewards?
Looking Forward
At our all-unit meeting on Feb 22 we began discussions about Seniority and Layoffs, Hiring and Promotion. These are the contract provisions that your bargaining team will be focusing on in the weeks to come. The Bargaining Team will be reviewing contract language on these topics from our sibling institutions among other places, but also needs to hear from you.
Obstacles and Sticking Points
Many of you were notified early this month of title changes via a memo from PACT. For example, our Curatorial Assistant colleagues learned that management wants to call them Collections Specialists–a typical job title for debt collectors–which caused them more than a little consternation. Even though we were assured that these titles would only be an additional column in Dayforce for unexplained administrative purposes, some staff had their titles changed on the Academy's website.
On February 13, our Bargaining Team made it clear to management that changes to wages and working conditions need to be bargained and that it is not acceptable for management to unilaterally change job titles in the midst of contract negotiations. As a result of agreements made in negotiations that day, most of you should have received emails from PACT on February 14 saying that the job title change is not intended to change any aspect of your employment. The Curatorial Assistants had their job titles corrected on the website.
NLRB charges
We have filed Unfair Labor Practice charges against Academy management for unilaterally changing job titles. Why? Because any changes to your working conditions—including your title—during this interim period must remain status quo or be made by mutual agreement. Once we have a contract, there will be structures in place that management must abide by to make any changes to your role.
Solidarity visit and action
Some of you may have heard that a group of 9 of our colleagues paid a drop-in visit to Academy management on February 1 to protest an apparent act of retaliation against one of the members of our Bargaining Team. While this matter has been partially resolved, we are still investigating and need your help:
Have you ever had a domestic partner or spouse who was laid off? Did you then apply to have them added to your Academy health insurance outside of open enrollment due to this "qualifying event"? We need to know! Email C...@calacademyworkersunited.org or bar...@calacademyworkersunited.org
This situation has also been documented and formally protested as part of our ULP filing. The case file is public, but you won't find many details in it. In order to qualify for remedies under the National Labor Relations Act, charges must be filed within 6 months of the action at issue, so don’t delay in bringing your issues to members of the Bargaining Team, CAT, or our 1021 Rep Mac Stevenson. As we develop our Cal Academy Workers United chapter structure, you will also have a primary resource for help in your colleagues serving as shop stewards.
COVID policy
Congratulations to all of you who filled out the COVID survey. Because you participated in filling out the survey, management recognized in the February 13th bargaining session that there was strong support for keeping the status quo until we ratify any changes in our first contract.
Because the current COVID policy touches on many aspects of our working conditions, our Bargaining Team wants to negotiate changes to the status quo as they come up in the context of relevant health and safety policies, sick leave, and other benefits.
As negotiations progress, keep up the good work on responding to surveys and polls. High participation rates in these polls and other group actions means that our bargaining team can make a strong case to management.
Calendar
Your bargaining team will be meeting with management every other Tuesday until June. In the month of March, that means bargaining sessions are happening on March 5 and March 19. Wear shirts and or pins on these days to show that we are capable of collective action to back up our bargaining team.
21 March (Thursday) 12:00pm to 1:45pm
Lunch Meeting
In the Moss Room. Our monthly opportunity for in-person bargaining and organizing updates and discussion. Lunch provided.
25 March (Sunday) 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Zoom Gathering
Can’t meet in person? Attend your union meeting in cyberspace! Get the latest news about bargaining and have your questions answered by members of your bargaining team. Share your thoughts. Join here: https://seiu1021.zoom.us/j/85232515547 Meeting ID: 852 3251 5547 --- One tap mobile +16699006833,
Ongoing events
For more event information, meeting times, and locations, check (or subscribe to) the Cal Academy Workers United Google Calendar.
Membership
Sign up for Union Membership today! Signing up for membership is different from signing the authorization card during our organizing campaign in 2023.
Union membership will allow you to participate in any votes on our first contract.
The more staff that are signed up as union members, the stronger the Bargaining Team will be during the negotiations. Just like you have heard us say over this past year: One Academy, One Union. We are stronger together. Sign up today.
Connections
Office hours
Hosted by your bargaining unit representative and CAT members–be on the lookout and keep an ear to the ground for dates and times. Ask your colleagues and check the Calendar. If you don’t see anything, reach out and inquire!
Bargaining Team
Email bar...@calacademyworkersunited.org.
Or strike up a conversation with a member of the team!
Contract Action Team
Members (like you!) volunteering to facilitate communication amongst their colleagues on contract bargaining. CAT plans and organizes events and actions throughout the negotiation process to build the power of our union. The Contract Action Team welcomes volunteers. Just show up at a meeting… ask around…or email orga...@calacademyworkersunited.org.
February news and important dates
“If you have any questions or concerns…”
There has been a lot of talk about management's Compensation Program Review. What exactly does it all mean? We aren’t sure – but do know that in the end you’ll have to decide. No really, you will.
Why? Because we have a union, any changes to wages or working conditions that management wants must be bargained with our union. That means that management must sit down with the Bargaining Team members – our colleagues who we have elected – and discuss the proposed changes.
After hearing management’s proposals for this and other issues, the Bargaining Team will then need to come to all of us and talk it over, before going back to management with our ideas and proposals. This means holding office hours, tabling sessions, discussions at our monthly lunch meetings, online town halls, online surveys, one-on one conversations, and more. In the end, we’ll vote on all those changes when it comes time to ratify our contract.
Having a union means unilateral decision making by management is over. We wonder why management didn’t mention this in their email on January 24th. Why wouldn’t they mention that?
So if you have any questions or concerns, if you like, you can contact your manager as the January 24th PACT email suggests… but remember that if you talk it over with your colleagues, or get in touch with your Bargaining Team representative, a Contract Action Team organizer, or your 1021 field rep Mac Stevenson, you’ll be building the power of our collective effort to democratize our workplace.
Speaking of visibility
Why do we do t-shirt and pin day? It’s fun, but it’s also something that’s necessary to be able to get to yes about things we really care about when management says no. You might remember that management has already said no to us before–when we asked for voluntary recognition, and when we asked for non-interference in our election.
Should we expect all “yes” at the bargaining table? If management says, “no,” what do we do then?
Labor law forced management to recognize our union after our yes vote, but it won’t force management to agree to anything in our contract. In order to have negotiating power we have to show that we are capable of coordinated collective action. That’s why t-shirt and pin day is important.
Calendar
13 and 20 February, and 5 March, (Tuesdays): T-shirt and pin days
These are the days when our bargaining team is scheduled to meet with management. Wear your union t-shirt or black and orange and your union button.Your bargaining team is more powerful when all of us are involved.
Working remotely? Download the CalAcademy Workers United digital pin.
22 February (Thursday) 12:00pm to 1:45pm: Lunch Meeting
Gather in person! We have tentatively reserved the Moss Room because the classroom is unavailable. Get to know your fellow members and get the latest news about bargaining. Have your questions answered by members of your bargaining team.
If you don’t know how to get to the Moss Room, ask a buddy!
25 February (Sunday) 2:00pm to 3:00pm: Zoom Gathering
Can’t meet in person? Attend your union meeting in cyberspace! Get the latest news about bargaining and have your questions answered by members of your bargaining team. Share your thoughts. Join here: https://seiu1021.zoom.us/j/85232515547 Meeting ID: 852 3251 5547 --- One tap mobile +16699006833,
Ongoing events
For more event information, meeting times, and locations, check (or subscribe to) the CalAcademy Workers United Google Calendar.
Membership
Sign up for union membership today! Signing up for membership is different from signing the authorization card during our organizing campaign in 2023.
Union membership will allow you to participate in any votes on our first contract.
The more staff that are signed up as union members, the stronger the Bargaining Team will be during the negotiations. Just like you have heard us say over this past year: One Academy, One Union. We are stronger together. Sign up today.
Connections
The person sitting/standing next to you
Hi there!
Bargaining Team
Email bar...@calacademyworkersunited.org or strike up a conversation with a member of the team!
Contract Action Team
Members (like you!) volunteering to facilitate communication amongst their colleagues on contract bargaining. CAT plans and organizes events and actions throughout the negotiation process to build the power of our union. The Contract Action Team welcomes volunteers. Just show up at a meeting… ask around…or email orga...@calacademyworkersunited.org.
📢 Bargaining News
This past Tuesday, our bargaining team, elected by you, met with Academy management to begin the process of bargaining our first contract.
Congratulations to so many of you for turning out in t-shirts and pins to mark this major milestone–your bargaining team noticed and appreciated the support!
Who was there?
Your bargaining team members (present in their CAWU t-shirts) along with Phil Ybarrolaza, our lead negotiator from SEIU 1021, and Mac Stevenson, our SEIU 1021 field representative.
Representing Academy management were Michael Costanzo, Ayat Elnoory, Melissa Felder, Elayne Graylow, Mathew Lau, and Gina Roccanova, the Academy’s labor lawyer.
What happened?
In our first bargaining session, both teams discussed some of the major issues we are looking to change as reflected in your bargaining survey responses. Our bargaining team presented a few proposals related to how our union will work and how our contract will be upheld at the Academy.
What’s next?
Negotiations will continue with Academy management and our bargaining team working out the details of proposals in bargaining sessions. Proposals will be negotiated until management and our bargaining team are satisfied with the details. Those proposals will be considered Tentative Agreements.
Throughout this process, our bargaining team will be listening and consulting with all of us to ensure that when the final collection of tentative agreements are presented to us, it is an agreement that we will want to ratify with a majority vote.
What can you do?
Sign up to be a full CalAcademy Workers United member by clicking here.
Fill out the COVID survey by January 15th. Our bargaining team needs to hear what is important to you about COVID at work. Because we have formed a union, management is obligated to negotiate about changes to COVID policy with our representatives on the bargaining team.
Mark your calendar for the next bargaining sessions on January 17th and January 30th which will also be the next union shirt and pin day.
Talk and ask questions. Reach out to any bargaining team member and share your thoughts.
Join us for lunch on Thursday January 25th from 12–2pm and/or a virtual town hall soon after that.
Concluding thoughts
It has been two years since we started the journey of empowering ourselves to have a say in the conditions of our lives at work. We had to insist on this, and through organization and collective action, we made it happen.
As you celebrate this year’s winter solstice time, and the season of renewal that comes with it, we ask you to take a moment to reflect on the process of renewal happening at the Academy right now. Consider what it will take to achieve further success in achieving a more democratic workplace, and a more resilient, equitable, and effective California Academy of Sciences for all of us.
Happy New Year!
Your bargaining team:
Marie Angel, IBSS
Gaby Farrer, Guest Experience
Nat Kramm, Development
Victoria Langlands, Exhibits & EE & Viz Studio
TR Malcom, Brand Sales & Marketing
Clea Matson, Education
Kelley Prebil, Operations
Holly Rosenblum, Aquarium
District 10 Supervisor Walton supports Academy workers
“I am proud to serve in a city that values worker voices and the ability for workers to collectively advocate for a living wage, raise standards, and create a more democratic workplace.” Read the full letter of support for CalAcademy Workers United from Supervisor Shamann Walton. Thank you, Shamann!
Another letter of support
Another letter of support was just sent to Academy leadership from San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston. We are grateful for the solidarity, Dean! Supervisor Preston joins Shamann Walton (District 10), Myrna Melgar (District 7) and Connie Chan (District 1) in publicly proclaiming their support for CalAcademy Workers United and our drive to build a democratic workplace. More to come!
Support from Supervisor Myrna Melgar
We received this letter of support from Myrna Melgar, San Francisco Board of Supervisors for District 7. We are grateful for the support of our community and city leaders. Thank you Supervisor Melgar!
Senior leadership response & our next steps
Senior leadership team response & our next steps
The organizing committee has received a response from Michael Costanzo on behalf of the Senior Team regarding our requests that we presented to him on April 21st. Both of our proposals have been denied. What exactly does that mean?
They have opted not to recognize CalAcademy Workers United through voluntary card-check recognition. This will mean a secret ballot election must take place, and likely means that management will use this extra step in the process as an opportunity to push back on our unionizing effort. Take a look at this visual guide to see the differences between card check recognition and a secret ballot election process.
They rejected our request for non-interference and neutrality with regards to our organizing campaign. By rejecting our request, they are reserving the right to interfere in a number of ways. This includes leadership sending emails or creating a website to spread misinformation about our organizing effort, management holding meetings to influence our decisions, and hiring union avoidance lawyers.
In fact, we’ve already seen examples of the fight to come. At the Gala, staff were told to remove their buttons indicating their unionization support which is a direct violation of the law. Some staff were intimidated and obliged management's request to remove the buttons. Wearing buttons is a protected concerted activity and employers cannot lawfully discipline staff for exercising this right. We will see more of this kind of interference moving forward, so it is important to document anything you may encounter thoroughly and let us know.
You may be wondering what the plan is now that we have this response. In short, our plan is the same. We will continue to have conversations with our coworkers and keep getting those confidential authorization cards signed.
At its core our movement remains firm in the belief that unionizing is the best path forward in gaining a real voice in the Academy’s future, and we will continue building support one conversation, card, and day at a time.
Reminder: Let’s show a united front! Please wear your shirt and/or button to the All-Staff meeting today, or download this logo and make it your Zoom profile pic!