Tel Aviv University International students volunteering and support group

 Today SEGEL (The Teaching and Research Faculty Organization) sent out this email, which might be interesting for the TAs and people who started working in this month. The email has been translated from Hebrew to English. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello friends, Our hearts go out to all the families whose loved ones were murdered, fallen in battle, missing or kidnapped, with the wounded and with the regular and reserve fighters. In order to prevent financial damage to our teaching and research staff, the management of the organization and the management of the university are making sure that we receive a salary for the month of October on 01.11.2023, according to the letters of appointment issued to us for the PhD. The salary will be paid as an advance subject to the fact that we complete the classes that were not held due to the postponement of the start of the school year. All this on the assumption that the school y...

This post will be bittersweet. Things happened in these days, but we haven't had the time to discuss and to write them down. Now that I have some more information and time, I can give a picture of the current situation. Let's start from the Postdoc bonus: we tried a strategy to demand it from the PI with an official paperwork of the university, to give something to the ones who are really in need of help. Once SEGEL sent out the email encouraging people to ask, the secretaries of the various departments started checking on what's going on, and they eventually declined to proceed with the documents  (the ones signed by the PIs). Not because the papers are not valid, but because this procedure is not meant for the postdocs. One secretary notified us that postdocs cannot receive the one-time payment, but they are in an easier position to receive a bonus directly from the PI, who can independently raise the scholarship for up to 200% (or 225% with special approval) for one mont...

Main highlights of the post (for the rushing people 😆) This article discusses a situation involving research scholarships and postdoctoral positions at a university. The SEGEL organization, representing students and researchers, had been advocating for fair scholarship adjustments based on the cost of living. The university administration initially failed to raise scholarships according to the consumer price index (CPI), leading to protests. After negotiations, the university eventually agreed to increase scholarships for the upcoming academic year. However, postdoctoral fellows were excluded from the compensation. The international community raised concerns about this disparity and engaged with university administrators. Despite discussions, the university remained dismissive of the situation and released new scholarship conditions without additional compensation. SEGEL proposed a "forfeit bonus" as an interim solution for postdocs facing financial challenges. This bonus w...

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 t...

 This noon we met with Dan Peer and Milette Shamir, two recipients of our campaign on the post doc issues. Among the participants, there were 9 people, of which 4 were postdocs. The meeting went smooth, with an adult and welcoming attitude from both sides. After a brief explanation on the conditions of the post docs and the step we took to start this initiative, we highlighted the most important demands and core issues: Compensation for the raise of the CPI for the postdocs, especially for the ones who are leaving soon before the next academic year. Need to raise the basic level (100%) of the scholarship for post docs and also other scholars. Need to have more transparency on the guidelines and the obligation for the postdocs in their scientific project. Clearer point of references, rules, suggestions, advertising for opportunities etc... Guidance on Maternity leaves, sick leaves, vacation leaves References to the body who can represent the working rights and the administrative or ...

 From the SEGEL TRFO organization (mail sent on 02.08.23) Hello,   At the end of June this year the organization sent a demand to the Director General of the University to increase scholarships by 12.5% in the upcoming academic year for all recipients, except postdoctoral fellows for whom we demanded more. This, in accordance with the increase of the average salary between 2021-2023, and taking into account that 2021 was the last year in which scholarships were updated according to the Consumer Price Index, which continues to rise. For Postdoctoral fellows who have not received any compensation, and whose scholarships remained stagnant for several years, the organization demanded a double raise of 25% as well as raising of the minimal scholarships level to 200% (which is currently 100% for Israeli postdocs and 150% for international postdocs). A full postdoctoral scholarship for researchers with a PhD currently a...

Yesterday 19.07.23 three SEGEL representatives (Tuvaal, Elinor, Valentina) met some international scholars (mostly post-doc, but also PhDs). There were 10 people present, among them our team member Bhavana, who is kindly helping and supporting our campaign. We decided to focus on the following topics: Status of the scholarships and compensations The meeting between the postdocs and the VP of research and development and the VP of the International scholars Next steps to take in order to escalate or progress with the campaign At first, Tuvaal gave us a summary of the current situation: the various demands have been forwarded to the administration body of the University. In particular, the chairperson of SEGEL (Shachar) has reached out the CEO of the University, presenting three demands: increase of the Master and PhD students scholarships of 12.5% (percentage set according to the current status quo in Israel, resembling the general increase of salaries in the country due to the CPI); in...

 In these days, as we wrote before, we sent out a letter to Dan Peer, the Vice president of Research and development in TAU. The letter is an introductory explanation of the demands the postdocs came up with. Our goal is to meet with Dan Peer or someone of his same caliber. In the first place, he answered us that he is willing to follow up our campaign and proposed us to talk directly with Prof. Milette Shamir (Vice President of Tel Aviv University, in charge of international academic collaboration). Possibly, Milette will be our interface, but we are waiting for her response as apparently she is out of office for now. Today morning (09.07) we had an update from Dan, as it follows: "Dear all, I have spoken to VP international and TAU CEO. We agree with you that changes need to be occurring in the fellowships scale (the basal level should change) and it will happen in the near future. I hope that in the next few weeks you will get more info about these changes for the new ...

As you might know, in these days SEGEL members fronted the high level Administration personnel in the University, proposing a condition for better scholarship amount for everybody. If you did not read or received the email of today, here we forward it. PS Nevertheless, we are still looking for Postdoc fellows to join Valentina for a personal meeting with the Vice President of the Research of the Uni. Possibly, we need someone from the Indian community(and not only), to show more internationality. For now we have 2 Europeans and an Asian person -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear members, We have a new committee - Good luck to us all! The elected representatives  In the general annual assembly that took place on 22.06.23, the current chairperson Shachar Frank was reelected as chairperson. The new elected Committee members are: Valentina Alberti (Life Sciences), Noa Gedi (Humanities), Ben Flickstein (Neuroscience), Tuvaal ...

  Dear all, we are glad to announce that the elaboration of the postdocs' issues and the Introductory letter to the Vice president of the Research and Development are ready and we are now planning the actual meeting. Here below, there is the text of the letter and the claims we want to discuss with the relevant authority. Before we proceed, we need to be as brave as possible: some postdocs should tag along during the meeting, to be the actual spokespersons and representatives of the entire community, to change in better the working conditions of all of you guys! Please give feedback as soon as possible, we are about to send the letter!  We must stress that THIS IS NOT a battle against PIs but an offering to the TAU administration to improve their contribution to our scholarships and experience on campus. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Draft Post Doc Demands Letter - by Sunday 2.7 To: Prof. Dan Peer Vice Pres...

 Segel representative asked us to spread the word. Here's their message! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Following our protests, the university's administration agreed to the demand to update the scholarships, according to its commitment. The university promised a partial compensation for the CPI rise, which was paid in a lump sum in May - but because of the technical mechanism the university chose for the payment, it ended up not paying the scholarship receiving students the full amount of the compensation. Furthermore, the university did not provide adequate responses to students who asked questions about issues with the payment. We, scholarship receiving students in Tel Aviv University, demand: 1) Specific answers to our questions about the calculation of compensation 2) That the university upholds its commitment: full payment of the compensation to all those entitled to it, as soon as possible. ------------------------------------...

Today 21.05.23 various post docs were present (via Zoom or in person) to the meeting we scheduled for progressing in our campaign for the Post-doc working and financial conditions. At the meeting there was present also a reference person from TRFO Segel, who helped us clarifying doubts and concepts. In particular, we focused - as said before- to these points. 1. University could (or should) hire Post docs as workers?!     the common opinion (more than 6 people in favor, 3 against) is that possessing a working visa would be advantageous for the post docs for a series of reasons: better pay, more welfare, account for pension years, easier visa management (renewal etc...). This has the disadvantage to put the post doc in a compromising situation with their supervisor, which would be the most affected person financially speaking. Hiring a worker is a higher cost that the PI has to cover (considering that in average, 100% of the scholarship is paid by the PI and 50% by the faculty)...

 Here below we report the summary of the meeting we had on 14.05.23 with the post docs and Segel (Teaching and Research Faculty Organization) and the conclusions we came to. The meeting was attended by 18 people, mostly Postdocs, from the schools of management, medicine, zoology, astrophysics, engineering, history, plant science, among others. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abbreviations:  Postdoc (Pd), principal investigator (PI), Tel Aviv university (TAU), Segel (Teaching and research faculty organization), CPI (Consumer price index) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT HAPPENED First point: an introduction by representative of the Segel was given to all of the participants. Here the most important points: The 2023 started with a +5% increase of CPI, while scholarships of post docs were no...

 In these days we are keeping on eye on a controversial situation happening on campus: the university "promised" to refund the Scholars (Master and PhD students) with a one-time bonus in April (obtained in May), excluding the post-doc. This action was made to compensate TAU (Israeli and International) students for the sharp 5% increase in the CPI (Consumer Price Index) in Israel. What happened is: post-doc are not entitled to receive the compensation and they will have to wait till next academic year, where the university promised to adjust the scholarships of all of the researchers (from master student to post docs) by increasing them roughly 5%. Many international PhD students did not receive the "promised" amount of compensation, namely the one that one can calculate with the formula that was given. A minority of international PhD students did not receive the bonus at all, and another minority got exactly the expected amount. (See our previous post on this matter...

Back in January, the Segel (TRFO) published an announcement on the ongoing struggle to adjust the scholarships to the cost of life. Let's remind what they said. Scholarship amounts will increase by at least 5% for the 2023-24 academic year, for all scholarship recipients, including postdoctoral fellows - whose scholarship amounts have not changed over the past several years. The maximum scholarship amount that research students may receive will be raised from 200% to 220%, or from 250% to 275% with the rector’s approval. Graduate students studying towards a master’s or doctoral degree will receive a one-time compensation for the current academic year, 2022-23. This compensation will amount to approximately 3% of the yearly scholarship amount, the equivalent of 2/3 of the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) at the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year.  Today as of  2nd May 2023, a representative of Segel (TRFO) announced that the all the PhD students should have receiv...