Democratizing Layoffs

With multiple rounds of layoffs in the last couple of years and ongoing threats to JPL’s budget, the looming threat of more layoffs has JPL workers constantly on edge.

While we cannot completely insulate JPL from the uncertain external forces affecting us, we can fight for more transparency, earlier notice, and more rights during potential future layoffs. By forming a union, JPL would be legally required to bargain with us over all terms and conditions of employment, including layoffs. We can also join together with other unions to advocate for increased funding at a national level.

During the recent layoffs at JPL, employees were caught off-guard by the announcement of pending reductions, given little time to prepare, not treated as dedicated employees wanting to hand over work to other colleagues and say goodbyes, and provided with extremely vague information on the criteria being used to select who would be laid off. There was also no coordination with the group supervisors and projects who would best know the criticality of their employees. Uncertainty in the process is a key frustration.

JPL workers could fight for more rights around layoffs, such as the protections that UAW 4811 Academic Researchers (ARs) at UC have in their contract. UC must provide ARs with a 45-day notice for all layoffs, recall rights if another position opens up, and the right to have a peer representative help them file a grievance if there is a dispute. Additional notice would allow employees a chance to actually prepare for the possibility of a life-changing event, including time to search for a new job, address visa issues, transferring private data off company resources, removing any personal items from the office, and making or postponing key commitments (such as medical appointments, mortgages, and vacations).

JWU could also fight for more transparency in the decision-making process and criteria used to select employees to lay off, and even the right to explore alternatives to layoffs. For example, we could seek the ability to help mitigate the effects of layoffs through strategies like early retirements, voluntary departure incentives, and more. We could also bargain for the right to receive data on how the determination that a layoff was necessary was made, and data after the fact about how it was executed. 

Workers through their unions cannot always prevent layoffs, but by bargaining together we can have a meaningful voice over layoff policy which would mitigate the uncertainty, confusion, and powerlessness associated with these painful events.