The Activities we are carrying on for our right and our money!

In this post:

• Forfeit bonus as a CPI compensation to the outgoing postdocs
• Further initiatives to raise our voices and get some more!
• A collaboration with the International Office: the Rosh Hashana happy hour!

Forfeit bonus as a CPI compensation to the outgoing Post docs (updated 28.08.23)

-->The forfeit bonus became available to all of the post doc fellows as a CPI compensation (Plan B)!

With this initiative, we want to help the postdocs who are leaving the country before the next academic year and who cannot benefit of the 10% raise of scholarship. 

The idea behind is that we find necessary a compensation to these people, since the university management refused to give any CPI compensation to its postdoc fellows, while PhDs and Master students got a little help (the bonus compensation in May).

With the increasing prices in the last months, we all lost the game: we had to pay more, with the same money, while the average wage was adjusted (+12.5%) to cope with the inflation in the country. 

The most exposed to this situation are in fact the ones who are leaving the country now, without any possibility of buffering this situation.

The negative answer of the university management led us to formulate a plan B, a forfeit bonus that can be requested from the supervisor, through an official request form.

Wait a minute! Should we go to our supervisors to ask money??? 

Yes, unfortunately. The administration is reluctant to deal with this issue, so we found an escamotage to make you guys obtaining some compensation. But don't worry! This time you are well supported and SEGEL is willing to help!

The idea is to send out an official email to all of the postdocs and get the ones who are entitled to have the forfeit. 

We sent out an email to all of the postdocs, who are now entitled to ask for this Bonus. We are empowering them by presenting the form and an accompanying letter on the behalf of the organization. The forfeit is not mandatory, but with some more insistency and the clear explanation of the situation, one PI should be more accommodating. They are responsible for us and our fragile financial situation!

The forfeit is a one time payment for some people, it is not so heavy on the budget of the PI (which likely have some leftovers from their annual budget)! And it is also a manner to protest against the inefficiency of the university.

If you are interested, contact Valentina, who will give you the right information on how to apply.

Further initiatives to raise our voices and get some more!

Given the announcement of the TAU administration body of the percentages of the scholarship increase, which are:

• 7% increase for Master students A level
• 5% increase for the majority of the scholars (MSc and PhDs)
• 10% increase for the postdocs

Given the interest of the VP of the research and the VP for the international affairs, but the low level of satisfaction towards our meeting

We decided to hold an "emergency meeting" to project what to do out of this situation. We, Segel representatives Valentina, Elinor and Tuvaal, alongside a few people from the international community we came up with these ideas and action plans:

• going ahead with the petition for the increase of the scholarships led by SEGEL
• so if you haven't done it yet, sign the online petition at this link . Hundreds of people already put they signatures, we aim to get to 400!
• to keep updated, you can joint this Silent Group, where only admins will post the news. The group is intended to increase in number of participants and to lead to a possible protest we are planning to do further in time. Join here

• trying to enforce the SEGEL petition with a parallel hardcopy petition from the International community, which is NOT bound to any TAU institution or organization, so it is unbound and it adds up to the strength of the protest.
• here the google doc with the text of the petition: LINK
• It is possible to put your name, if you wish. The hardcopy petition will be available to the people who don't feel like putting their signatures; they will instead sign as "I agree" with their unique calligraphy.

• Opening (finally) the TAU International Graduate Students & PostDocs - the stories of living here, a Facebook page where we can share our daily testimonies about living in TAU as international scholars. The page has been done in order to be polite, diplomatic and constructive, but at the same time, to be honest and direct about our experiences without euphemisms. So here we need your action:
• post your stories, also anonymously via this way
• share the page with your friends and acquaintances, to make it grow and visible
• interact with the other Facebook items of TAU  

• Possibly further action: to reach out Ariel Porat (TAU president) or Gadi Frank (TAU CEO) to stress the importance of our situation and to take positive action in this regard. It is worth noting that reaching such high officials is challenging and uneasy, though that it can be a real possibility

• The protest: as mentioned before, the protest could be a strong and effective way to raise awareness of  TAU (and beyond). This needs to be organized well, so that's why SEGEL is gathering people and creating a strategy to make this happen (by the silent WA group). In this occasion, we will take pictures and video and we will try to reach the press by sending out a report of what we are living here in TAU. It will be a summary of your stories, the things we know and the outcome of the protest.

A collaboration with the International Office: the Rosh Hashana happy hour!

Lately, we opened an ongoing conversation with the TAU international office, for mutual collaboration in the effort to improve the quality of life of the international students and post-docs.

There are many ideas on the table we are talking about, and we would like to start this new year (of Jewish tradition and academic calendar) with a Happy Hour event on the 13th of September at 18.30! Save the date and invite your friends!

This is going to be the first of a series of efforts to gather the community and introduce it to the culture of Israel. In this case, as a community we can be the co-creators of the upcoming event(s).

This collaboration could really benefit us as community and highlight to the International office the biggest problems we are facing. For example, I was able to handle out the data of the surveys we did on the behalf of the university dorm policy and problems, in the hope to find a new compromise with the dorm company.

Do you want to help?

#spread the word about the online activities and the petitions

#help us with ideas and criticism

#be creative! Help us with the contents and the images

#come and help the team! Even only one time, it is precious! 

#propose a social activity