Labor & Employment Law

UMass Researchers Choose UAW

By James Parks

A majority of the 300 postdoctoral researchers working at three University of Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Amherst and Dartmouth have signed cards to join a union to negotiate better wages, health care and working conditions.

A delegation of the workers filed a petition yesterday asking the Massachusetts Division of Labor Relations (DLR) to certify their union, UMass Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW (UMass PRO/UAW), as their representative for collective bargaining.

Says Simona Maccarrone, a postdoctoral researcher from UMass Amherst:

We’ve taken this step so we can protect our rights on the job, and make sure postdocs working on different campuses and in different labs are treated fairly and receive comparable pay and benefits. This will give us the same union rights as other workers and faculty at UMass.

If the Employee Free Choice Act is implemented, workers would be able to choose for themselves how to form a union, including through majority sign-up. The UAW represents workers at more than 40 universities and colleges across the country, including teaching assistants, research assistants, graders, tutors and other student academic employees and support staff.

Caleb Rounds, a plant biologist at UMass, adds:

 We’re a vital part of the university workforce and leaders in our fields, yet our pay is very low.  With the economy rebounding, the university’s financial situation is improving, so it’s time to address our needs.   

UAW Regional Director Bob Madore says the UMass workers are the first postdoctoral researchers in Massachusetts to join a union. 

These are first-class academic employees working in a world-class institution, and they are pioneering on behalf of their colleagues at other colleges and universities in Massachusetts.

Postdoctoral researchers perform basic scientific research and contribute to the development of new innovations in biomedical science and industrial technologies. They also publish scholarly articles and write grant proposals that help bring in millions of dollars in grants and contracts.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).