Wellesley Organized Academic Workers vote by 93% to authorize calling a strike if circumstances justify

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wellesley Organized Academic Workers vote by 93% to authorize calling a strike if circumstances justify

February 21, 2025

“Our goal is to negotiate a fair contract that will be ratified by our members,” said Dr. Christa Skow, Senior Instructor in Science Laboratory in Biological Sciences and member of the bargaining committee.

WELLESLEY, MASSACHUSETTS – The Wellesley Organized Academic Workers - UAW (WOAW-UAW) at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts voted by an overwhelming majority in favor of authorizing their elected bargaining committee to call a strike if necessary to reach a fair agreement or to address unlawful actions by Wellesley College. WOAW-UAW represents approximately 125 non-tenure-track faculty and postdoctoral scholars. 

The WOAW-UAW Bargaining Committee and Organizing Committee called for a Strike Authorization Vote after 19 bargaining sessions and over 65 hours of face-to-face negotiations. The vote opened on Friday, February 14th and closed Thursday, February 20th. Two-thirds of those voting needed to vote “yes” for the vote to pass. 

“We called for a strike authorization vote to encourage Wellesley to make substantial progress towards our key priorities. Our goal is to negotiate a fair contract that will be ratified by our members,” states Dr. Christa Skow, Senior Instructor in Science Laboratory in Biological Sciences and member of the bargaining committee.

Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program and member of the bargaining committee, Dr. Erin Battat, states, “Wellesley is trying to increase our teaching load by 25% while also stripping aspects of our jobs that enrich student experience and are essential to the functioning of the College.”

To date, Wellesley College and the union have reached tentative agreements on twelve articles, but many open articles remain. 

“We are asking Wellesley College to show courage not only by disengaging from the inherently sexist hierarchy they use to justify our low wages but also by stepping up to provide the gold standard in protections against sexual harassment,” said Dr. Katie Hall, Distinguished Senior Lecturer in Physics and member of the Bargaining Committee, “Not just as a faculty member, but especially as an alum, I ask if Wellesley College will not stand up for these values, who will?”

Faculty on Term Appointments, Instructors in Science Laboratories, and Postdoctoral Scholars teach, mentor, and advise the more than 2400 undergraduate students at Wellesley. Non-tenure track faculty and postdocs unionized in January of 2024. 

“We are dedicated teachers, scholars, mentors, and members of a vibrant intellectual community,” states Dr. Erin Royston Battat. “Wellesley needs to recognize the value of our labor in advancing Wellesley’s mission to ‘provide an excellent liberal arts education to women who will make a difference in the world.’” 

Non-tenure-track faculty and postdocs at Wellesley College join over 100,000 UAW-represented academic workers across the United States, including non-tenure track faculty at Barnard, the New School, and UMass Lowell.  In the last eight years, over 40,000 academic workers around the country have chosen to become part of the UAW, and more than 15,000 of them are in the Northeast.

Learn more at www.wellesleyorganizedacademicworkers.org

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