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                                                                                                     Focus On Europe:
                                  "All they told us is that we have a majority. They did not give    Research by the
                                  us an exact count." -- Matthew "Oki" O'Connor, union               Numbers?
                                                                                                     11 July 2008
                                  spokesperson and Berkeley postdoc
                                                                                                     Industrial Postdocs: The
                                                                                                     Road Less Traveled
                                  University of California Postdoc                                   13 June 2008
                                  Union Wins Official Recognition                                    Packaging Yourself for
                                  Beryl Lieff Benderly                                               Product Companies
                                  United States                                                      23 May 2008
                                  29 August 2008
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                                   PRO/UAW, the union that tried and failed in 2006 to organize
                                   the postdocs on the 10 University of California (UC)
campuses, has received official notification that it succeeded on its second try. On 19 August,     CAREER TOOLS AND
the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) faxed a letter to the organizers            RESOURCES
stating that the union, known formally as Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/International
Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, had              Current Employers
submitted valid signatures from a majority of the approximately 5000 UC postdocs eligible to
petition for union representation. Under state law, unionization is therefore automatic. The         Learn more about the
move brings an estimated 10% of U.S. postdocs into UAW, an AFL-CIO-affiliated national               employers advertising
union that represents more than a million other members, including UC academic employees,            positions on our site.
such as graders, teaching assistants, and lecturers.
                                                                                                    Science Careers Forum
PERB's letter did not reveal the number of postdocs who signed. "All they told us is that we         Post a question, get an
have a majority. They did not give us an exact count," says union spokesperson and UC                answer on our online
Berkeley postdoc Matthew "Oki" O'Connor by phone. Judging by the nearly 4000 cards the               community
union submitted, "I really don't think it was close," he adds. Postdocs who receive paychecks
through the university, either through employment on professors' grants or fellowships that the     Graduate Programs
university administers, were eligible to sign the cards and join the union. Those who receive
their pay directly from grants or funders are not considered employees, were not eligible to         Browse our database of
sign, and are not considered part of the bargaining unit, O'Connor explains.                         program profiles

                                                                                                    How-To Guides
PREPARING FOR CONTRACT TALKS
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Once the union receives official certification documents in a week or two, O'Connor says, it will       Beating the interview
begin preparations for negotiating its first contract with the university. Postdocs will elect their
negotiating team, with everyone eligible for union membership entitled to run and vote. Next,           Getting funding
the postdocs will "democratically choose" issues for negotiation, O'Connor says. During the
organizing drive, he explains, organizers conducted a short survey to learn which issues                Managing a lab and staff
postdocs thought most important. Based on those results, the organizing team will develop a
more detailed survey, then submit the priorities it produces to a vote. Negotiation experts from        Building your network
the national union will assist the team. One area of attention could be a UC postdoc pay scale
that starts below the National Institutes of Health's recommended minimum and offers no cost-          Salary Tools
of-living adjustment to postdocs living in some of the nation's most expensive metropolitan
areas. Another could be establishing a system of independent arbitration of disputes.                   Find out how much you're
                                                                                                        worth with our salary
                                                                                                        calculator
Once the union and the university have come to terms, the postdocs will vote on whether to
ratify the contract. Only after ratification will the union begin collecting dues of 1.15% of income
from postdocs who choose to join the union and a fee of about 0.9% from members of the                 To Advertise   Find Products
bargaining unit who choose not to join, O'Connor says. Under state law, the contract will cover
only the postdocs eligible for union membership--including those who are eligible but choose
not to join. Whether the university might extend policies established under the contract to
postdocs not formally covered by it remains to be seen.


NO VISIBLE OPPOSITION

"Academic workers in California and elsewhere who have made the decision to join the UAW
and bargain collectively with their employers have made significant economic gains and
enhanced their working conditions. Postdocs at UC will now have the same opportunity," said
UAW Secretary-Treasurer Elizabeth Bunn in a statement. She directs the union's Technical,
Office and Professional organizing department, which, in addition to UC's academic
employees, has organized those in the California State University system and the universities
of Massachusetts and Washington.

At least a few UC postdocs oppose unionization--an approximate number isn't even known--
but the 2008 unionization effort met no visible organized opposition.

The contract negotiated by the nation's first postdoc union, University Health Professionals, a
local of the American Federation of Teachers, with the University of Connecticut Health Center
in Farmington, significantly bettered UCHC postdocs' income, benefits, and workplace rights.
Whether PRO/UAW can deliver improvements at UC, where postdocs already have benefits
and work rights that rank among the nation's best, will be the acid test for the unionization
effort.


     Beryl Lieff Benderly has been a regular contributor to Science Careers since 2003,
     writing on postdoc matters and other scientific workforce issues. She writes from
     Washington, D.C.

     Image (top): Kelly              DOI: 10.1126/science.caredit.a0800128
     Krause


RELATED CONTENT

   It Ain't Over Till It's Over
   1 December 2006,

   Taken for Granted: The Fat Lady Sings
   1 August 2008,

   Postdoc Unionization Drive Reaches a Climax in California
   1 September 2006,

   The State of the Union
   3 March 2006,




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