We are excited to vote yes for our union on October 2nd and 3rd!
Columbia Postdoctoral Workers (CPW-UAW)
On October 2nd and 3rd, we have a historic opportunity to improve the postdoc experience and help create a more inclusive and accessible scientific community here at Columbia by voting “yes” for CPW-UAW as our union.
As postdoctoral researchers, we are highly trained workers who play a pivotal role sustaining Columbia University’s world-renowned research programs. We care deeply about our research and advancing the boundaries of Science, and we work collaboratively with our faculty.
Morningside, Earl Hall, 2nd floor Auditorium 10am-2pm, 3pm-7pm
CUMC, Hammer Building, Study Hall LL1-104 10am-2pm, 3pm-7pm
Manhattanville, Jerome L. Greene Science Center, Room L7-119, 7th floor 1pm-3pm
Lamont Doherty, Geoscience Center, Room 113 (not Sutton House)
Nevis Laboratory, Irvington, NY, Library 136 Broadway 10am-11am
October 3rd
Morningside, Earl Hall, 2nd floor Auditorium 10am-2pm, 3pm-7pm
CUMC, Hammer Building, Study Hall LL1-104 10am-2pm, 3pm-7pm
But our lack of a real voice with the central Columbia administration means people far away from our labs and offices can decide unilaterally whether we receive fair salaries that match the high cost of living and housing in New York City, or whether we have fair recourse on issues such as sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination. This lack of a voice creates uncertainty that hinders our ability to focus on quality research and has allowed Columbia to offer compensation that falls behind other NYC research institutions.
If a majority of us vote “yes” for our union, Columbia administrators would be legally obligated to negotiate postdoc conditions with our elected bargaining committee and to commit any agreements we reach, regarding improvements or maintaining current benefits, into a binding contract.
We would join thousands of other academic workers who have chosen to affiliate with the UAW to not only to make improvements in their workplace, but also to have a stronger political voice nationally to advocate for important issues like expanding federal science funding and immigrant rights. Unionization of postdoctoral researchers has resulted in tangible improvements at many research universities. Postdocs at the University of California have had a union for over 10 years and most recently the postdocs at the University of Washington and University of Connecticut have formed unions and started bargaining.
We, the undersigned urge our colleagues to participate in our historic election and vote ‘yes’ to certify CPW-UAW as our union so we can work together to bargain a fair contract with Columbia.
Thanassis Dovas, Pathology and Cell Biology
Mark Olabarria, Pathology and Cell Biology
Ioan Filip, Systems Biology
Tomas Aparicio, Institute for Cancer Genetics
Marissa Rashkovan, Institute for Cancer Genetics
Emilia Laura Munteanu, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
Nichole Danzl, Medicine – Immunology
Agnieszka Wendorff, Institute for Cancer Genetics
Jorge Postigo Fernandez, Medicine – Immunology
Silvia Affo, Medicine – Digestive and Liver Diseases
Aveline Filliol, Medicine – Digestive and Liver Diseases
Theresa Swayne, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center
Gorka Lasso Cabrera, Systems Biology
Davide Marotta, Medicine – Pulmonary
Ajaneyulu Murari, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Uchenna Unachuwu, Anesthesiology
Elena Bianchetti, Pathology and Cell Biology
Francesca La Carpia, Pathology and Cell Biology
Sonya Hanson, Biochemistry and Molecular Physics
Pablo Pérez, Institute for Cancer Genetics
Silvia Alvarez, Institute for Cancer Genetics
Laura Pereira, Biological Sciences
Steven Cook, Biological Sciences
Adriane Otopalik, Biological Sciences
Abhishek Bhattacharya, Biological Sciences
Merly Vogt, Biological Sciences
Eduardo Leyva, Biological Sciences
Berta Vidal, Biological Sciences
Chunmin Shan, Biological Sciences
Onur Cakmak, Biological Sciences
Kristi Stringer, Social Work
Slavko Bogdanov, Astrophysics
Guillaume Plante, Astrophysics
Leo McGilly, Physics
Matt Yankowitz, Physics
Ruth Angus, Astro
Krishna Jayant, EEE
Daniel Rhodes, Mechanical Engineering
Reka Letso-Recinos, Biological Sciences
Haosheng Sun, Biological Sciences
Rafael Tapia-Rojo, Biological Sciences
Alvaro Alonso-Caballero, Biological Sciences
Gulika Reddy, Law
Anjli Parrin, Law
Rahma Hussain, Law
Carlos Forsythe, Physics
Fabian Munoz Silva, Zuckerman Institute
Nabil Daddaoua, Zuckerman Institute
Laureline Logiaco, Zuckerman Institute
Andrew Zaharia, Zuckerman Institute
Laureline Josset, Columbia Water Center
Utsav Dave, Electrical Engineering
Anindya Swarnakar, Chemistry
Elizabeth Heitkemper, Biomedical Informatics
Tzong-Shiue Yu, Pediatrics – Critical Care
Mohammad Islam, Medicine – Pulmonary
Galina Gusarova, Medicine – Pulmonary
Ignacio Hernandez-Morato, Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
Carmen de Sena Tomás( Pediatrics – Cardiology
Huimin Kang, Pediatrics – Nephrology
Sebastián Riquelme, Pediatrics – Infectious Diseases
Partha Patra, Earth and Environmental Engineering
Irina Chernyshova, Earth and Environmental Engineering
Ashley Okwuosa, Journalism
Daniel Nelson, Journalism
Jia Li, Physics
David Tsai, Electrical Engineering
Medini Annavajhala, Medicine
Evan Paull, Systems Biology
Rebecca Kehm, Epidemiology
Nur Zeinomar, Epidemiology
Thomas Yager, Epidemiology
Yoonhee Lee, Electrical Engineering
Benjamin Hoffman, Law
Tulsi Patel, Pathology and Cell Biology
Marta Galán-Diez, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Panos Oikonomou, Systems Biology
Alvaro Cuesta-Domínguez, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Marcello Ziosi, Neurology – Neuromuscular Medicine
Jananan Pathmanathan, Biochemistry and Molecular Physics
Manu Vanaerschot, Microbiology and Immunology
Kathryn Wicht, Microbiology and Immunology
John Okombo, Microbiology and Immunology
Nina Gnadig, Microbiology and Immunology
Yiyin Zhou, Electrical Engineering
Masaaki Tomii, Physics
Austin Joyce, Physics
Alice Mosberger, Zuckerman Institute
Tal Golan, Zuckerman Institute
Youngkyu Kim, Biological Sciences
Kalpita Karan, Psychiatry
Sebnem N. Tuncdemir, Psychiatry – Integrative Neuroscience
Rebuma Eirdessa Fite, Medicine – Immunology
Debanjana Chatterjee, Medicine – Nephrology
Roxanna Guichon Rubinstein, Dental Medicine
Francesco Brundu, Systems Biology
Albert Serra Cardinals
Jorge Montesinos, Neurology – Neuromuscular Medicine
Georgia Ntermentzaki, Pathology and Cell Biology
Vartika Mishra, Pathology and Cell Biology
Delfina Larrea, Neurology – Neuromuscular Medicine
Mónica Pujol Canadell, Center for Radiological Research
Florence Borot, Medicine – Hematology and Oncology
Maja Milanovic, Institute for Cancer Genetics
Zunaira Shuja, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Araitz Alberdi Gonzalez, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
Amir Momen-Roknabadi, Systems Biology
Dario Sirabella, Columbia Stem Cell Initiative
Giacomo Parisi, Physiology and Cellular Biophysics
H. Tomas Rube, Biological Sciences
Gabby Landsverk, Journalism
Nadia Nguyen, HIV Center
Adam Gerber, Anesthesiology
Dario Martelli, Mechanical Engineering
Khuram Ashraf, Physiology
Rosemary Cater, Physiology
Soledad Domínguez, Medicine – Institute for Genomic Medicine
Who we are
We are Columbia postdocs forming a union to improve the postdoc experience at Columbia and to increase our voice as researchers locally and nationally
Postdocs make essential contributions to the world-class research conducted at Columbia, but many of us still struggle to pay high housing and other costs in New York City, lack secure rights in the workplace, and face increasing uncertainty about our futures given the precarious nature of science funding and unstable regulation of visas and work authorization in the current political climate.
We join a growing national movement of researchers and other academics forming unions with the UAW to improve our lives and our work. UAW postdocs and graduate student workers across the United States have made a difference advocating for science research funding, working to stop the Trump administration’s discriminator