Earlier this week, Penn contested Research Associates and Postdocs’ petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a vote on whether to form a union. Penn’s objections are a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise academic researchers and delay a democratic election. This resulted in a pre-election hearing at the regional NLRB office that took place Tuesday, May 6th. Research Associates and Postdocs discussed these developments during the recent RAPUP-UAW Town Hall on Unionization, and we are writing to provide an update to those who were unable to attend.
At the NLRB hearing, Penn administrators, as well as individual Research Associates and Postdocs, provided testimony so that the NLRB can issue a decision about whether Postdoctoral Researchers, Postdoctoral Fellows, NRSA Postdoctoral Fellows, and Research Associates should be able to form a union together.
| WHAT PENN TESTIFIED | WHAT POSTDOCS AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATES TESTIFIED |
| – Postdocs and Research Associates are “temporary employees,” “trainees,” and “apprentices”. – NRSA Postdoctoral Fellows are not Penn employees. Postdocs and Research Associates shouldn’t be able to unionize when federal research funding is being threatened. | – Postdocs and Research Associates are integral employees at Penn engaged in advancing the research mission of the university. – Postdocs and Research Associates are employed and paid by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, receive a W2, and pay tax on our wages, thus classifying us as employees. |
Postdocs and Research Associates are now forced to wait months for the regional NLRB to issue a decision and schedule an election. However, if Penn drops its objections, Research Associates and Postdocs can hold a democratic vote within weeks. In fact, Johns Hopkins University has already agreed to an election for their unionizing postdocs, who filed their petition only a day before RAPUP-UAW. Thousands of other postdocs across the country have already exercised their rights to form a union at institutions like Columbia University, Princeton University, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Washington, and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Penn is making unfounded arguments in an effort to delay our access to a fundamental right as workers and take away our voice.
Postdocs and Research Associates will continue to talk to our coworkers about the gains we want to see in a union contract and push Penn to allow us to vote. If you want to learn more, please RSVP to an upcoming orientation on Thursday, May 15th.
In solidarity,
Bridget Begg, Postdoctoral Researcher, Biochemistry and Biophysics
Kosta Plakas, Postdoctoral Researcher, Radiology
William Drayer, Postdoctoral Researcher, Materials Science and Engineering
On behalf of the RAPUP-UAW Organizing Committee