UC researchers ratify their first union contract

While tenured faculty usually get the credit and big salaries for scientific discoveries at the University of California, legwork for their breakthroughs is often performed by more anonymous postdoctoral researchers who earn less than $40,000 a year.

On Thursday, those 6,500 postdoc researchers stepped into the national spotlight with the announcement that they had ratified by an overwhelming margin their first union contract with the UC system. The action comes after an arduous organizing and negotiating effort that began four years ago. The pay raises are not huge, but experts say the contract will significantly change the research workplace environment at the 10 UC campuses and potentially across much of American academia.

"This will have a tremendous impact. Success breeds success and emulation. I think there is a good chance this will go national with the success," said Richard Boris, director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, which is located at Hunter College in New York. Beyond salary terms, the agreement is notable for establishing "professional dignity" at a time when the weakened finances at UC and other universities makes many employees feel vulnerable, he added.

The contract between UC and a union affiliated with the United Auto Workers is the first free-standing one of its kind in the country and affects by far the most researchers, according to UC and union officials. Researchers at a couple of other U.S. universities previously won union contracts, but in connection with other groups of campus employees, they say.

Among other things, the UC compact will give 3% pay increases for most postdocs and 1.5% for the most highly paid ones. In exchange, the union agreed not to strike for five years.

The contract also requires all new postdocs to be hired at the pay levels recommended by the National Institutes of Health, which funds much UC research, and for other employees to gradually approach NIH levels over five years. For this year, the NIH scale ranges from $37,740 for new researchers to about $48,000 after five years experience. UC reports that its current starting salary for new hires was just $340 below the NIH standard but concedes that some previous employees were paid significantly less.

The contract also gives the union a stronger say in safety and health issues in the labs, where dangerous chemicals and biological samples may be used.

-- Larry Gordon

Comments

[DWB]

Unions have bankrupted the state,county and local goverment now the UC system comes next. UAW, isn't that the union which bankrupted the car industry?

[kuruc]

another group goes down the junion drain!

[james andrews]

Union wins, taxpayers and students lose. Why do we continue to support these people like this

[Smith]

What possible public benefit can come from unionizing university employees? The UC grew to greatness without unionized workers. What we will see now is the ossification of the UC workforce, which will be like LAUSD teachers or UAW workers: unaccountable, impossible to fire, elevating their interests and needs over those of the students. When do parents and students--the consumers--get a union?

[EGR]

We continue to support "people" like this because unions were the organizations that won: the weekend, overtime, minimum wage, and pensions. And in situations where people are working with dangerous chemicals, the workers should absolutely have a voice on health and safety issues.

And btw, it wasn't unions that bankrupted the USA-it was speculative investors. Educate yourself, or is that too difficult for right-wing reactionaries who are simply too chicken to protect themselves the way that the UC researchers have?

[upwinger]

These folks do hard, productive work and really are overworked and underpaid, unlike public employees. Anyone who confuses these folks from public employees simply doesn't know what they are talking about.

[Karen]

Glad to see that these highly educated researchers are going to get better wages. These people have DOCTORATES in their fields, and are doing important work. They deserve better pay.

[indifferent]

Though these individuals do a lot of important, hard work, remember they are also working towards getting a degree. So in addition to their salary, they do have another form of compensation.

Unions will destroy the UC system just like they destroyed the US automotive sector and all forms of government

[Donovan]

Indifferent, you have no idea of what you are speaking. POST doctoral means they have ALREADY earned their degrees (PhDs). Postdoctoral researchers are simply working for the university, for specific profs in specific labs. These people all earned their degrees (but are likely still paying for them), so they deserve better pay. Again, this does NOTHING to the UC budget. This affects specific labs and profs and how they pay their employees. It just makes it so there are standard rules. Why is that a problem?

[southoc]

Too true, these great researchers usually have great research teams. Some never get their names on papers.

[southoc]

Don't confuse these researchers with Caloptima, DMV, or welfare workers,

[perspective]

I didn't realize post-doc researchers were paid so low.

It is also good to hear that unions can still be formed in America. While not all unions are good, the ability to create or dismantle a union is very American. It keeps corporations and government officals from getting too greedy.

[Safedriver]

Oh no!!! UC researchers that are paid those fat 6 figure incomes...not. These are the ones "doing" a huge amount of the dirty work and are seldom credited with it. Not to mention they aren't even close to half of a 6 figure salary.

[Former Post-doc @ UC]

A little clarification:
-Post-docs ALEADY have a PhD, they are not working towards a degree.
-Many post-docs work 50-80 hours per week for that same small salary
-Many post-docs did not receive a cost-of-living increase in years
-The funds to pay for post-docs are from grants, not the UC system, so these agreements will not change the budget of the city/state or county.
-Post-docs do the bulk of the research that keeps our country on top scientifically and technologically.

Please remember this when you think about how these dedicated men and women should be treated and recompensed for their time and effort.

[A US-PhD wasted]

When will science leadership admit the science university system will not be funded sustainably by the taxpayers because it is broken?

American universities has become morally bankrupt and dishonest destroying lives and careers. Eventually the taxpayer money spigot will stop. The shut off had already started, but there was a 10 billion dollar science boondoggle gift ARRA a la Arlen Specter.

The corrupt Universities and their liberal elite professors have destroyed careers in biology by the endless import of H1Bs and J1 visas to do the research on grants. Now we have this unstable situation of unions, just to get a little justice.

Often the morally bankrupt universities employ foreign scientists that have not written a dissertation in their foreign countries, but are now working 24/7 in the US. The US graduate student has essentially been eliminated from the science education supported by the taxpayers. Why employ a US graduate student to work on grants? They have to take to many classes and write a dissertation, so the foreign postdocs numbers have gone through the roof, 37,000 is a good salary for many of the foreigners. It is now to the point that the postdocs can not make money, even enough to survive. Where will go after their 6 years are finished?

[A US-PhD wasted]

When will science leadership admit the science university system will not be funded sustainably by the taxpayers because it is broken?

American universities has become morally bankrupt and dishonest destroying lives and science careers. Eventually the taxpayer money spigot will stop. The shut off had already started, but there was a 10 billion dollar science boondoggle gift ARRA a la Arlen Specter.

The corrupt Universities and their liberal elite professors have destroyed careers in biology by the endless import of H1Bs and J1 visas to do the research on grants. Now we have this unstable situation of unions, just to get a little justice. Often the universities employ foreign scientists that have not written a dissertation in their foreign countries, but are now working 24/7 in the US. The US graduate student has essentially been eliminated from the science education supported by the taxpayers. Why employ a US graduate student to work on grants? They have to take to many classes and write a dissertation, so the foreign postdocs numbers have gone through the roof, 37,000 is a good salary for many of the foreigners. It is now to the point that the postdocs can not make money, even enough to survive. Where will go after their 6 years are finished?

[Tracey]

@Indifferent: Postdocs already have a terminal degree. They are not getting any further degree at the end of this training period. It is about time all institutions started paying these highly educated, highly skilled and innovative professionals a salary befitting their training and experience!