Submit a testimonial about your experience at Princeton
Postdocs and Scholars had our 8th bargaining session with Princeton admin yesterday. We presented 5 counter-proposals and received 6 counter-proposals and 2 new proposals (Layoff, No-Strike) from Princeton. While we were able to reach a tentative agreement on our job posting article, we were disappointed by Princeton’s inadequate responses to critical workplace issues. Instead of engaging with our proposed improvements to important issues, Princeton admin is proposing to simply maintain existing policies rather than consider real improvements.
In yesterday’s session:
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Admin ignored our proposal on co-PI eligibility, responding with their existing policies that don’t give postdocs co-PI eligibility.
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Princeton’s grievance proposal would carve out essential protections from being enforceable through our union grievance procedure (a formal process to raise and resolve concerns) for the following cases:
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Discrimination & Harassment
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Title IX sexual harassment and misconduct
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Disability and accessibility
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Patent and Copyright
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Admin introduced a proposal on Layoffs, which would protect their right to terminate contracts in certain cases that they have no control over such as funding freezes, without indicating how they plan to support researchers affected by federal funding cuts.
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Admin’s Prohibition Against Discrimination & Harassment and Reasonable Accommodation counterproposals seek to maintain status quo university policies and would prevent Postdocs and Scholars from enforcing their rights.
We are extremely disappointed, like many other Princeton community members, to see Princeton admin fail to acknowledge the fact that current Title IX protections fall far short of the needs of survivors of sexual misconduct. What admin proposed yesterday is well below the standards set for other postdoc union contracts, especially with respect to discrimination and harassment protections. Additionally, Princeton’s continued lack of response to our proposal on International Researchers Rights, proposed in January as a pressing topic due to the current political climate, demonstrates admin’s priorities in these difficult times.
Postdocs and Scholars must take action to show Princeton we won’t accept these unserious proposals. Reach out to your colleagues to update them about the progress of negotiations and upcoming opportunities to demonstrate our power. Share your story and sign up to join an upcoming bargaining session.
Umut Kamber
PUPS-UAW Bargaining Committee
Associate Research Scholar
Department of Physics