Our Approach to Bargaining

As the Bargaining Committee, we will fight for a contract that guarantees all Princeton postdocs and scholars* the ability to thrive by securing essential workplace protections and benefits, such as: salaries that keep pace with the rising costs, more accessible and affordable access to Princeton housing, expanded support for international workers, cost-effective and inclusive health benefits for postdocs and their families, better childcare benefits and access to family leave, longer appointments, enforceable grievance procedures, protections against harassment and bullying, and more. 

To ensure this, we will: 

  1. Make every effort to keep all postdocs informed throughout bargaining
  2. Encourage all postdocs to participate in the process of winning a strong contract

We hope Princeton does not push back on key priorities as some other institutions have. Either way, we know that in order to win the strongest possible contract we will need a strong majority of us to support the bargaining committee by actively participating in the process. Having the majority of all Postdocs united behind the bargaining committee will give us the strength and leverage at the bargaining table to win a fair agreement with Princeton. We will use multiple strategies to make it as easy as possible for you to stay informed and participate: 

 

Grassroots organizing: We will continue to engage in local outreach to colleagues to help keep each other updated, informed, and provide lines of ongoing communication with the bargaining committee, building on the strong track record of majority participation and support throughout our campaign so far. 

 

Bargaining updates: We will provide regular, timely updates on bargaining sessions to keep you informed of which proposals are being passed, as well as any progress or challenges in the negotiations.

 

Regular town-halls: We will host regular town halls to update the unit on our progress, to get feedback on updated proposals and to answer any questions. Participation in these forums by as many Postdocs as possible will be critical.

 

Open email communication: We remain committed to being responsive to the priorities and needs of all Princeton postdocs by answering any emails that you send to info@princetonpostdocunion.org with specific concerns in a timely manner. This includes your reports of unfair labor practices — these will be kept confidential within the bargaining committee and we will work with you to help find immediate solutions. Identifying unfair practices also helps us to make sure that the contract will prevent these practices in the future. 

 

Topic-specific working groups: We have established working groups as needed to provide support with the bargaining process. These groups will stay in regular contact with the bargaining committee in order to assist with research, give feedback on proposals, and drive issue-based campaigns that add to our leverage at the bargaining table.

 

Open negotiation sessions: While actual negotiation sessions will be between our bargaining committee and Princeton’s administrative team, we plan to push Princeton to commit to open bargaining—a process through which postdocs can attend bargaining sessions. We plan to bargain intensively to achieve the best contract as soon as possible and will post bargaining dates on our website as soon as they are scheduled along with information on how to join these sessions. 

 

Sidebar conversations: “Sidebar” or off-the-record conversations between our bargaining committee and the administration can be a useful tool at the negotiation table when on-the-record negotiation reaches a roadblock, particularly for exploring underlying reasons for lack of progress that Princeton might not otherwise communicate. As a committee, we will make sure the entire bargaining committee is aware of the sidebar and agrees before using this tactic.

 

Bargaining Goals: We put great effort into incorporating as much feedback as possible into an inclusive set of initial bargaining goals to guide us in negotiations, drawing on surveys from Postdocs, electronic feedback, town halls, and hundreds of individual conversations, as well as best standards across the academic sector and other unionized institutions. We will continue to collect bargaining surveys and collect feedback from postdocs and fellows as part of the goals ratification process.

 

In solidarity,

PUPS-UAW Bargaining Committee

 

*Postdocs and scholars includes our entire bargaining unit: postdoctoral research associates, postdoctoral research fellows, associate research scholars, senior research assistants, and post-graduate research associates at Princeton.