RSVP for our next informational Town Hall, May 1st @ 10am!
As you know, our union election will be held on May 8th-9th! Click here to make your voting plan for next week, so that as many of us as possible can participate.
As postdoctoral researchers, we will have a historic opportunity. When a majority votes yes for our union, Princeton University Postdocs and Scholars-UAW, the Princeton administration will for the first time ever have a legal obligation to negotiate as equals with postdocs and associate research scholars over our pay, benefits, and workplace rights. The more of us who participate in this important decision and vote “yes”, the more effectively we will be able to negotiate for improvements with the Princeton administration.
We’ve also updated our website! Read about where, when, and how to vote, and the many reasons we are voting “yes” – including this open letter signed by over 150 postdocs and scholars from across Princeton departments.
As we approach our union election, Princeton will likely continue to take actions that seem increasingly intended to persuade postdocs to vote “no”. We encourage you to RSVP for our informational town hall this Wednesday. If you have any questions, remember to keep in mind some basic facts about collective bargaining:
- Unions provide a stronger collective voice. Tens of thousands of UAW academic workers have used collective bargaining to negotiate improvements at research institutions across the country, from enhanced compensation and benefits, to more rights for international workers and enforceable protections against harassment and discrimination. Read about some of the major gains unionized researchers have won at other institutions.
- Unions provide a democratic voice. As Princeton postdocs and scholars, we make up our union, we will elect a bargaining committee to negotiate with Princeton, we will decide and vote on our bargaining priorities, and we will vote on any contract before it goes into effect. Other postdoctoral unions have consistently shown robust democratic participation – for example, a majority of over 1,600 unionized postdocs at Columbia University voted by 99% to ratify their first contract in 2020 after winning significant improvements, which they have continued to build on in their most recent 2023 negotiations.
- Unions have enhanced academic workers’ power to effect change at the national level. We are part of a growing national movement organizing in academia, with more than 100,000 academic workers who have already become part of the UAW, including the largest number of unionized postdocs. Unionization has provided researchers with a bigger voice to advocate nationally on important issues like expanding federal science funding and international researcher rights.
If there is anything holding you back from voting “yes” for our union, please feel free to reach out to us at info@princetonpostdocunion.org so that we can help address your concern, or check out our website FAQ and our side-by-side review of the Princeton’s FAQ.
Best,
Harrison Ritz
PUPS-UAW Organizing Committee
Associate Research Scholar
Princeton Neuroscience Institute