5,000 University of California Researchers Join UAW

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/07/11/5000-university-of-california-researchers-join-uaw/

by James Parks, Jul 11, 2008

Some 5,000 postdoctoral researchers at the University of California (UC) took a huge step toward joining a union after a majority signed cards authorizing the Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW (PRO/UAW) to represent them in collective bargaining.

“We’re excited that postdocs have formed their own union so they can have a stronger voice in their workplace,” UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn says in a statement.

These workers make significant contributions to biomedical and other scientific advances, and deserve the same voice that other workers have.

As soon as the state Public Employment Relations Board certifies the union victory, the workers can begin negotiating a contract with the university. The key issues for the workers include wages, child care and improved maternity benefits, the union says.

Union spokesman Matthew O’Connor told the Daily Labor Report the union collected more than 3,000 authorization cards. According to the union, postdocs perform basic research on cures for major diseases and developing new technologies. They also publish scholarly articles and write grant proposals, all of which helped bring hundreds of millions in grants and contracts to the university last year, the union said.

The postdocs usually work for five years in a faculty supervisor’s lab after receiving a doctorate or equivalent degree. They compose a large portion of the nation’s nontenured academic research workforce, PRO/UAW said.

They now join some 12,000 teaching assistants, tutors and other academic student employees at UC, who are union members and represented by UAW Local 2865. UAW represents a total of some 25,000 academic student employees at more than 40 universities and colleges nationwide, including UC, California State University, the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts.

I'm about to leave a unionized position as a graduate reseach assistant to take a job as a non-union postdoc. There's been a lot of talk of postdoc unions, but as far as I know, this is the first successful attempt to organize.