GSWOC International Student Committee email back up

Nov 25, 2023

Hi everyone,

When we started the international student committee, we created groups based on language. Me and others have been organizing Chinese students. We got many questions about wages and strikes recently. We sent out things in Chinese, but we realized others may also have similar questions. So here are the updates.

If you think it is helpful, here is a link for sharing. And sign up form for future updates like this.

Wage proposal

There is no official detailed update from the bargaining team, we created our unofficial one.

Here is a table about wages for comparison by years and current wages. The rightmost column is the decrease/increase from the previous proposal. Both sides are moving very fast. With this speed, the gap will be closed in 1-2 rounds of bargaining. And the next bargaining is on Sunday tomorrow, very close to strike.

For more detail on the progression of the bargaining, please check out the eight proposals from both parties at the tracker (wage is at last line).

Last week, we sent out a survey about expectations for wages on wechat. Here is the link.

This is not an official survey by the bargaining team. But we talked with a bargaining team member before we created the survey. And the bargaining team member asked us for the survey result.

They recommend the following feedback methods instead of the survey:

Give input and join the decision making process

• Bargaining team(BT): You can reach out to any of them, fill out the feedback form, or attend the bargaining.

• Departmental congress: Representatives will represent their departments to communicate with the BT and address concerns. The meetings and decisions are open to all GSWs, but only representatives chosen at department organizing committees (OC) may speak.

The meeting may be daily once the strike starts. Join meetings also count as strike hours! It is intended to give feedback to bargaining and also access our power.

If you want to participate, you can reach out to organizers in your department, and join your department OC meeting.

You can check out these documents. (Departmental Congress Proposal , Meeting note on 11/17)

Strike tips:

• Strike Materials & Resources (includes template for talking with PI/Advisor/Students)

• Ask students to send letter to admin & get their parents to send letter to admin

Ready to strike?

To get strike assistance, you need to sign up with your SSN/ITIN, bank info, address.

Date: 11/29 at UPC, 11/30 at HSC. Location: to be announced.

Have a good weekend,

Best,

R