SENT ON FEBRUARY 3, 2021 AT 11:03 AM
Greetings United Museum Workers!
We started the New Year with last week’s info sessions that caught us all up on the exciting next steps for our union. Thank you to all who attended!
First, are you receiving our electronic newsletter? We won’t be communicating over CMP email, so we need your personal email. To get newsletters like these electronically (we will only rarely be mailing them), please send an email with your name, personal email, work location, and position to unitedmuseumworkers.usw@gmail.com
Register now for our FIRST GENERAL MEETING on Tuesday, 2/9/2021 at 7pm!
www.umwpgh.org
It's time to form our Bargaining Committee, and we need YOUR help! The Bargaining Committee is a group of our coworkers who we elect to represent our entire bargaining unit during contract negotiations with CMP. Their goal is to achieve the best possible contract for the entire union membership. Members will develop contract proposals based on the priorities and feedback of our staff and will attend meetings with CMP management to negotiate the strongest possible contract. Once a contract has been drafted, the entire UMW membership will get to provide feedback and vote on whether or not to ratify it.
At our first General Meeting we will discuss the Bargaining Committee composition proposal, consider any additional proposals on how to structure our Bargaining Committee, and vote on the Committee composition. Make your voice heard and attend this meeting! Our strength comes from our collective voice, and that voice starts with YOU! We’ll also be taking volunteers for an Elections Committee to run the Bargaining Committee Election.
After much discussion, we present to you our proposal for the composition of our Bargaining Committee. We’ve strived to figure out a system that allows for representation from each component, while also allowing representation from different “kinds” of positions (part-time, public-facing, etc.).
We're already seeing the benefits of standing together as UMW.
UPCOMING NOMINATIONS: We’ll be setting the date for our nominations meeting at the 2/9 General Meeting. Make sure UMW has your contact info so you can stay up-to-date about all our upcoming events, decisions, elections, and meetings!
As always, we welcome your questions and feedback! Write to us at unitedmuseumworkers.usw@gmail.com. Our strength as a union lies in our transparent communication and shared experience. Let’s chat!
Greetings United Museum Workers!
We started the New Year with last week’s info sessions that caught us all up on the exciting next steps for our union. Thank you to all who attended!
First, are you receiving our electronic newsletter? We won’t be communicating over CMP email, so we need your personal email. To get newsletters like these electronically (we will only rarely be mailing them), please send an email with your name, personal email, work location, and position to unitedmuseumworkers.usw@gmail.com
Register now for our FIRST GENERAL MEETING on Tuesday, 2/9/2021 at 7pm!
www.umwpgh.org
It's time to form our Bargaining Committee, and we need YOUR help! The Bargaining Committee is a group of our coworkers who we elect to represent our entire bargaining unit during contract negotiations with CMP. Their goal is to achieve the best possible contract for the entire union membership. Members will develop contract proposals based on the priorities and feedback of our staff and will attend meetings with CMP management to negotiate the strongest possible contract. Once a contract has been drafted, the entire UMW membership will get to provide feedback and vote on whether or not to ratify it.
At our first General Meeting we will discuss the Bargaining Committee composition proposal, consider any additional proposals on how to structure our Bargaining Committee, and vote on the Committee composition. Make your voice heard and attend this meeting! Our strength comes from our collective voice, and that voice starts with YOU! We’ll also be taking volunteers for an Elections Committee to run the Bargaining Committee Election.
After much discussion, we present to you our proposal for the composition of our Bargaining Committee. We’ve strived to figure out a system that allows for representation from each component, while also allowing representation from different “kinds” of positions (part-time, public-facing, etc.).
- The Bargaining Committee will be made up of 9 of our union siblings:
- 1 representative from each of our 5 components (the Warhol, Natural History/Powdermill, Museum of Art, Science Center, and CMP Central Services, which includes ACE, Finance, Oakland VMS). The nominee with the most votes from each component will win a seat on the Bargaining Committee.
- The remaining 4 seats will be filled “at large,” meaning anyone can be elected to these seats. After the nominee with the most votes from each component is awarded a seat, the 4 nominees from any component with the most votes will win the at-large seats.
We're already seeing the benefits of standing together as UMW.
- We secured new protections under the status quo. With our certification in place, management can no longer make any unilateral changes to our work without consulting us first. If you think you're experiencing any changes in your terms and conditions of employment, let us know! This isn’t a prohibition on changes to your terms and conditions (for example, you can still get a promotion or have changes to your job description)--just that the changes can no longer be decided by CMP alone: they have to give our union notice and an opportunity to bargain. We're here to help make sure that YOU have the final say in your work.
- We've gained Weingarten Rights, meaning if any of us are in a conversation with a supervisor that we reasonably believe will lead to our discipline, we can have another co-worker present as a union representative to help mediate, take notes, or call for a caucus (or break) to talk with the employee about how to respond. Eventually, when we have trained stewards, they’ll take on this work.
- We increased communications across components, thanks to the Contract Action Team (CAT). CAT members talk to our co-workers about working conditions, changes from the status quo, and priorities they want to see in our contract, which CAT members communicate to the Bargaining Committee. The CAT will also distribute a Bargaining Survey that will go out to all UMW members to ensure all concerns are heard. If you are gregarious, curious, or want to develop community within our union, consider joining CAT. If you’re interested, write us a note at unitedmuseumworkers.usw@gmail.com.
- We’re ready to form our Bargaining Committee! If you are good at imagining long-term consequences, have an eye for detail, and want to impact the future of our work, please consider running for the Bargaining Committee. You can talk to anyone active in UMW, or send an email to unitedmuseumworkers.usw@gmail.com.
UPCOMING NOMINATIONS: We’ll be setting the date for our nominations meeting at the 2/9 General Meeting. Make sure UMW has your contact info so you can stay up-to-date about all our upcoming events, decisions, elections, and meetings!
As always, we welcome your questions and feedback! Write to us at unitedmuseumworkers.usw@gmail.com. Our strength as a union lies in our transparent communication and shared experience. Let’s chat!
