Issues

What are we fighting for? There are many issues that motivate JPL employees to form a union, whether we want to improve our working conditions or preserve what we already have. Once we have officially formed a union, we will circulate a bargaining survey and vote on goals that can be won through collective bargaining, so ultimately what we fight for is up to us! JWU organizers have already had hundreds of conversations with colleagues about what they want to change at JPL.

One of the core, overarching issues that unionizing and collective bargaining seeks to address is transparency and equity. At JPL, management has enormous discretion and insider knowledge when it comes to personnel decisions that have a huge impact on our lives. Examples of such decisions include:

  • Setting initial salaries
  • The annual salary review (ASR) process
  • Process and timing for promotions
  • Deciding what accommodations are provided for employees 
  • Determining employee telework plans and salary adjustments for different location tiers

Such discretion, power, and lack of transparency can lead to disaffection amongst workers and hidden inequities and disparate impacts across an organization’s employees, and we have heard stories of these harms impacting JPLers for many years. By forming a union, JPL employees will be able to have a seat at the table to negotiate over workplace processes and policies, which will dramatically increase transparency and equity on Lab.

JPL workers hosted a townhall with UAW 2478, where JPLers discussed fighting for NASA and scientific research funding with Representatives Judy Chu and George Whitesides.

    In order to know what to negotiate for, it would help to have data about the current state of affairs. As part of the bargaining process, we can request information about current working conditions, so we can do our own analysis and come up with equitable solutions. If there are significant issues discovered, we could negotiate for immediate remedies to try and rectify the imbalances as they currently exist. We could then bargain for more transparent and well-defined policies and processes in situations where individual managers or HR personnel are making decisions (ASRs, promotions, accommodations, and more), in order to reduce the likelihood of new inequities in the future.

    Other issues mentioned frequently in our current conversations with JPL employees include:

    • Remote work protections
    • Protections against unpaid overtime and other work/life balance support
    • Layoff protections and how they’re conducted
      • Transfer/recall rights
      • Improved transparency in how the decisions are made
      • Mitigation options like voluntary separations and early retirements
      • Increased severance
    • Harassment/discrimination protections
      • Grievance process independent from HR
      • Neutral, third-party arbitration
    • Workplace accessibility & safety
    • Protections for foreign nationals, LGBTQIA+ workers, disabled workers, and parents and caregivers
    • Stronger voice in fighting science funding cuts

    This isn’t an exhaustive list, and we get to choose what’s important to us here at JPL before we enter the collective bargaining process. If there is a working condition that you don’t see and want to talk about it please contact info@jplworkersunited.org or reach out to us on the “contact us” part of the website.

    JPLers rallied with UAW members from across Los Angeles to demand that congress Kill the Cuts to STEM funding.