Bargaining Pledge
Bargaining Pledge (Formal Language) — May 2025
Audio version:
The Guild of Autistic Self-Advocate Staff (GASS) believes that no worker should be denied equal opportunity in the workplace. Our talented staffers should be justly rewarded for their labor, fully accommodated at work, free to speak their mind on matters of concern, and supported in their efforts to make the world a better place for autistic people. Our work environment should be diverse and equitable, as well as reflective of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN)’s values. No matter which colleagues are at the bargaining table, every member of our union fully supports GASS in steadfastly representing the interests of the communities that the organization serves.
Signed: 100% of bargaining unit, Guild of Autistic Self-Advocates (GASS)
Plain Language (PL) Bargaining Pledge — May 2025
Audio version:
The Guild of Autistic Self-Advocate Staff (GASS) is a labor union. A labor union is a group of workers who come together to protect their rights at work. GASS is the labor union for staff at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN).
GASS wants to make the world a better place for autistic people. To do that, our workplace needs to follow the same mission as ASAN as a whole. The things that ASAN believes should apply to ASAN’s workers.
- GASS believes our workplace should be diverse.
- Diversity means people of all different backgrounds living and working together. When we say different backgrounds, we mean different:
- Races
- Ethnicities
- Disabilities
- Genders
- Sexualities
- Religions
- Ways of communicating
- speaking or non-speaking
- using different languages
- Ages
- And more!
- Diversity means people of all different backgrounds living and working together. When we say different backgrounds, we mean different:
GASS wants ASAN to help diverse autistic communities.
- GASS believes our workplace should be equitable.
- Equitable means making sure everyone gets a fair chance in life. What counts as equitable for each person depends on the situation. In an equitable workplace, people with similar training, experience, and skills get the same chances.
Some groups of people don’t always get fair chances in life. These groups might go through systemic discrimination. Systemic discrimination is when society treats a group of people unfairly because of who they are. For example, racism is a kind of systemic discrimination. People of color face systemic discrimination in the United States.
Equitable workplaces focus on giving fair chances to people going through systemic discrimination. In equitable workplaces, bosses hire, keep, and promote people who go through systemic discrimination. GASS wants ASAN’s workplace to be equitable for people who go through systemic discrimination.
- Equitable means making sure everyone gets a fair chance in life. What counts as equitable for each person depends on the situation. In an equitable workplace, people with similar training, experience, and skills get the same chances.
- GASS believes our workplace should be fair to all workers.
- All people deserve the chance to succeed at their job. GASS believes that we deserve the chance to succeed at our jobs. We should get paid fairly. We should get the accommodations we need for our disabilities. We should get to speak honestly about how we feel at work. For example, we should get to speak honestly about workplace worries or problems. We should get to speak honestly about what diverse autistic communities think.
GASS also believes our bosses should help workers do well. Our bosses should help us meet our goals and ASAN’s goals. Our bosses can help make ASAN a fairer place to work.
- All people deserve the chance to succeed at their job. GASS believes that we deserve the chance to succeed at our jobs. We should get paid fairly. We should get the accommodations we need for our disabilities. We should get to speak honestly about how we feel at work. For example, we should get to speak honestly about workplace worries or problems. We should get to speak honestly about what diverse autistic communities think.
GASS started our first bargaining session on May 27th, 2025. Since then, GASS has done more bargaining sessions. And GASS will continue bargaining until we have a fair contract. A bargaining session is a meeting between a labor union and their bosses. At bargaining sessions, both groups try to agree on an employee contract.
An employee contract is an agreement between a labor union and their bosses. The employee contract sets rules about working conditions. Working conditions are things like:
- Pay
- Time off
- Health care
- Accommodations
- And more
Each bargaining session is about a different topic in the employee contract. Because there are many topics to cover, there are many bargaining sessions. There is usually one bargaining session a month. It sometimes takes years for a labor union and its bosses to agree on a contract. But GASS hopes that happens quickly.
The bargaining committee is the members of GASS who lead the bargaining sessions. Not all members of GASS are in the bargaining committee. But the bargaining committee’s job is to speak for all GASS members’ at the bargaining sessions. We trust the bargaining committee to fight for what matters to us.
Every member of GASS believes in this pledge.