Support Striking Workers at UW Libraries

UW Libraries, Gallagher Law Library, and UW Press employees are going on strike!

We are going on strike to assert our collective values and worth as employees. We demand that the University stop delaying negotiations, stop degrading workplace protections, stop proposing a two-tiered system between professional staff and librarians, and give us a fair compensation proposal.

More than three years ago, staff at the UW Libraries and Press decided to unionize to transform our workplaces, believing we can use our collective power to create change at a systemic level. We want the Libraries and Press to fulfill their potential as institutions that value user-centered, equitable, and sustainable service to the University community.

The UW Libraries Union has been in contract negotiations for our first collective bargaining agreement for over a year. During this time, we have asserted the need for fair pay, concrete progress toward equity and anti-racism goals, and codification of the reality that professional staff and academic librarians are equally essential and deserve comparable rights and protections. Our Bargaining Team has put forth numerous reasonable and well-researched proposals to ensure that UW Libraries, Gallagher Law Library, and UW Press employees are appropriately supported and compensated for our mission-critical work, contributions, and expertise.

Rather than engaging in a shared effort to achieve greater equity, better working conditions, and fair pay, the UW has largely failed to respond to our articulated goals, instead proposing the erosion or elimination of existing benefits and protections. These counterproductive actions come at the direct expense of employee well-being and have prompted more than 30 UWLU colleagues in the last year alone to resign in pursuit of better pay and working conditions elsewhere. The employer’s tactic of dragging out negotiations undermines

the Libraries’ ability to achieve our mission and serve our students, faculty, and community.

Please consider contributing to our strike fund so that we can win the changes we need! Funds will support Libraries and Press workers experiencing financial hardship due to the impact of a strike.

Contribute:

$20, 50, 100

Any contributions in excess of participant need will be donated to the MLK Labor Hardship Fund.