WE ARE RESEARCH ASSOCIATES AND POSTDOCS UNITED AT PENN - UAW

Through our union, postdocs and research associates are demanding better working conditions at the University of Pennsylvania and making our collective voice heard as academic researchers both locally and nationally.

Postdoctoral researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates drive the world-class research, scholarship, and clinical services conducted at Penn. However, many of us struggle to afford housing, childcare, healthcare, and more in Philadelphia. Furthermore, we face increasing uncertainty about our futures – especially given the precarity of funding and the unstable regulation of visas and work authorization at Penn and in the United States. 

We join a growing national movement of postdocs and other academic workers forming unions with the United Auto Workers (UAW) to improve our professional and personal lives. UAW postdoctoral and graduate student workers across the country have made important gains by advocating for fairer visa and immigration policies, better working conditions at their academic institutions, and increased federal science research funding. In fact, graduate student workers at Penn have already formed their union, GETUP-UAW.

Organized academic workers have already dramatically improved working conditions at major institutions through unionization with the UAW. In 2018, Columbia University researchers formed the first union for postdocs at a private institution in the United States. By building on their wins, we can continue to raise standards for academic working conditions and improve our quality of life. We’ve even seen it first-hand at our own university, where Penn Medicine resident doctors recently won significant improvements in their working conditions through their first contract.