On June 20 and 21, postdoctoral fellows at USC will have the opportunity to solidify our choice to form a union: USC Researchers and Fellows United-United Auto Workers. Postdocs at USC share many of the same challenges, which add stress to the postdoc experience and make it difficult to focus on doing quality research and teaching. By forming a union, we are coming together to improve our workplaces and our lives. 

As postdocs, our work is integral to the discoveries that have established USC’s world-class reputation and draws over $1 billion in grant funding annually. However, too many of us are struggling with low pay as the costs of housing, groceries and other necessities are skyrocketing.

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We’ve seen our union peers win meaningful pay increases in their contracts. For postdocs at UCLA, the minimum salary after 2 years is $71,769, which is over $5,000 more than a comparable salary at USC. UCLA’s medical, vision and dental health care benefits for postdocs are also significantly less costly than those at USC. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai postdocs recently negotiated the highest salary in the United States in their union contract. Better pay allows us to focus on our work, rather than constantly worrying about making ends meet or dealing with an unexpected emergency. 

Another reason we’re forming a union is that abusive conduct is rampant in academia and too often goes unchecked. Colleagues have reported facing retaliation for asking for a raise and many report being overworked and reprimanded for not being productive enough, leading to anxiety and depression.

Power-based harassment is common, as postdocs often only work with one principal investigator or adviser who has a lot of say over their future prospects and letters of recommendation. Postdocs who try reporting harassment and abuse through existing university-centered channels often see little action taken to investigate or no change as a result. Others fear speaking up at all or don’t think they can take the time out of their research to do so. As a result, some postdocs have switched research tracks undoing years of work, or been forced out of academia altogether.

By forming a union, we can do something about this. We’ve seen our colleagues at the University of California, Columbia University and Mount Sinai Hospital’s School of Medicine win independent processes for cases of harassment, discrimination and bullying, where a neutral, third-party arbitrator investigates the claim and renders a final decision. Postdocs have won interim protections to protect their ability to work free from abuse and harassment while their case is pending. 

Another reason we’re forming our union is to secure more protections and support for international scholars, who make up a significant portion of the postdoc workforce at USC.

 It’s stressful enough being a postdoc, and international scholars face additional burdens that prevent us from focusing on doing quality research. Basics such as finding housing when you don’t have a U.S. credit score can be extremely difficult, and frequent visa renewals can require substantial time away from our research and significant costs. Right now, our working experience at USC is very dependent on which labs and departments we find ourselves in. Some of us have principal investigators who understand the situations we face regarding visa renewals, but others aren’t so lucky. 

With a union, we can fight for more support for international scholars. We’ve seen our union colleagues win benefits like guaranteed paid time for visa renewals, longer minimum appointments which can mean longer visas and more support navigating the visa process. By joining 100,000 academic workers in the UAW, we also gain a strong political voice to advocate for governmental changes with far-reaching impacts, like more opportunities for visa holders and increasing National Institutes of Health pay levels for pre- and postdoctoral researchers which was announced in April.

Finally, winning better support for postdoc parents is a reason we’re voting “union yes.” The high cost of child care, coupled with long waiting lists, means too many of us struggle with access to quality child care. We’ve seen our union colleagues win better support for parents, including securing eight weeks of fully paid parental leave for postdocs at UCLA, and by winning or expanding child care subsidies for postdocs at UCLA, Columbia and Mount Sinai and for grad workers right here at USC. Having quality, affordable child care takes stress off parents and allows us to focus on our work.

With collective bargaining, we will gain the right to meet at the bargaining table as equals and negotiate a contract that not only improves our pay, benefits and workplace rights, but also ensures the security and stability that enables us to do quality research. We urge you to do your research and then vote “union yes” on June 20 and 21.

Signed,

Wren Edwards, Postdoctoral Scholar in Integrative Anatomical Sciences, Anaísa Coelho, Postdoctoral Scholar in Physics and Astronomy, Jane Hu, Postdoctoral Scholar in English, and Connie Valencia, Postdoctoral Scholar in Population and Public Health Sciences.