Session 24: A supermajority of members commit to strike following the College’s refusal to bargain
Update 4:35 PM, March 26, 2025
Today at 1:38 PM President Paula Johnson sent an email to the College community announcing our rejection of the College’s request for mediation. We believe the request for mediation from the College was not seriously intended to avert the strike. The College, at the time they requested mediation, did not offer to schedule any additional sessions prior to April 3 and instead proposed that future sessions be converted to mediation. In our bargaining session yesterday, we offered to bargain with the College today, including this evening and they declined. Mediation at this time is premature. We have said many times we are willing to negotiate on many areas of our proposal.
Additionally, the announcement to the College community, which presented mediation as a continuing possibility, came after both the College and Union were notified by the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service that the “FMCS has suspended mediation services effective immediately.” This notice was provided at 12:08 PM. The College’s communication is disingenuous.
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Dear WOAW Members and Supporters,
Bargaining Recap & Why We are Striking
Our 24th bargaining session yesterday made clear that the College is more committed to saying they want to avoid a strike than doing anything to avert one. In an email to the campus community and students’ families the College claimed to be “committed to negotiating." Our Bargaining Committee took this seriously and again offered the College extra time to bargain before the strike. Once again, the College declined our offer without reason. The College has forced us to strike because they're refusing to bargain or schedule sessions until Thursday, April 3.
The College presented a 5 course workload with a 10k raise to base salary. That’s our current overload pay. It’s not clear how the College offering us forced overtime with virtually no raise for the rest of our careers is, in the words of Provost Coile, a "commitment to good-faith bargaining”--especially because the College is fully aware that a 5 course workload is a non-starter for our unit. Their proposal also signals their plans to reduce our numbers by as much as 20% - a loss of individual members among us, along with their experience and expertise. We cannot accept this.
We gave them, in turn, a comprehensive package, which is a first draft of a final contract. A comprehensive package shows where we are and are not willing to negotiate in order to avoid a strike. It’s no longer appropriate to bargain proposal-by-proposal anymore. It’s time to move towards a final contract by clearly stating our essential demands like workload, protections against discrimination and harassment, reappointment, and compensation while offering meaningful compromise elsewhere to ensure we win the contract that’s best for us. The College continues to stall our efforts at reaching agreement on a comprehensive package in the hope of dragging negotiations into the summer when we lose our power.
A New Development Post-Bargaining: Mediation Proposal: (No Thank You)
The College’s lawyer contacted our bargaining committee this morning and stated that they would like to “move to mediation” for all future bargaining sessions. After consideration and consultation with our organizing committee, our bargaining committee sees the call for mediation as premature. Yesterday, we gave the College a comprehensive proposal, something they could sign that would immediately avert a strike and when we passed it, we signalled many times that we had room for movement as part of a complete agreement and hoped the College would respond. Again, rather than respond, the College ended the session early and declined to schedule any additional sessions before April 3.
We have offered to bargain every day, including evenings and weekends in the lead up to the strike. By refusing to bargain, the College has shown that averting a strike is not a priority for them. We have not exhausted our ability to make progress in bargaining. Mediation at this time won’t resolve our true problem: we’ve made our members’ priorities clear and the College has refused to make any movement towards these priorities. Mediation is a true last resort and we are not in a place where we can no longer hold the line on our member’s key demands.
Our Strike: Join Us at the Picket Line for a Strong Showing to Resolve this Quickly
The College’s stall tactics show they’re afraid of our power to win a strong contract. And they should be. A supermajority of our unit is striking. Over 70% of our tenure stream colleagues have publicly refused to cover our work. 550 students and counting have pledged not to go to scab classes –assuming the College can even find people to cover our work. We have already secured support from national political figures like Jocelyn Benson and Ed Markey and we are in conversation with other elected officials. All these groups recognize, like us, how important this fight is. And, like us, they recognize we can win. Now we have to make the College see the obvious: We are the ones helping Wellesley lead. We are setting the standard for future academic contracts. We are showing our students what it means to stand up for yourself and others. And we will not be deterred.
For us to win, we need to act together. We need everyone to sign up for picket shifts, delivery shifts, or other work to support the strike.
Look for a message from your strike captain for details about where you’ll be picketing. Feel free to reach out to your strike captain with any questions you have. This experience is new, and uncomfortable, for all of us. But we are in it together. And together, we will win.
Looking Ahead
We will be enrolling people for strike benefits on Monday, March 31. Your strike captain will be in touch with details. Since we can’t count on the College moving expediently to end the strike, we are already signing up for next week’s pickets and weekly strike duty and other strike support work. You’ll notice we’ve added weekend shifts to next week’s shifts. April 5th is the second annual Hillary Rodham Clinton Center summit. April 6th is Admitted Students weekend. Having a large presence at these events sends the College an unmistakable message: We will not stop until they commit rectify their unlawful conduct and negotiate the contract we deserve.
What else can you do besides joining the picket line?
Donate - WOAW has a hardship fund for those members who may need extra financial support if pay is docked during the strike.
Call and email Wellesley College leadership: the Board of Trustees, President Paula Johnson, and Provost Courtney Coile. Urge them to return to the bargaining table and urge them to actually negotiate!
You can do this every day!
Amplify WOAW’s message through your social media and Wellesley network - Instagram: @woaw.uaw X (Twitter): @WOAWUAW
A supermajority of our unit is striking. A majority of our non-union colleagues are refusing to cover our labor. More than 500 students have signed a pledge not to attend classes taught by WOAW members during the strike. We need you to put pressure on the College and urge them to BARGAIN.
In solidarity,
WOAW Bargaining and Organizing Committees