The UAW represents more than 65,000 academic workers across the United States, including more postdocs and graduate student employees than any other union. In the last four years alone, nearly 10,000 academic workers in the New York City area have chosen to become part of the UAW.
The UAW has particular experience negotiating and enforcing strong postdoc contracts. Most recently postdocs at the University of Washington voted by an overwhelming 89% percent to form their union with the UAW. The 7,000 postdocs at the ten University of California campuses approved their first UAW contract in 2010, and those at the University of Massachusetts approved their first contract in 2012.
More than 3,000 Columbia graduate student employees recently voted by an overwhelming 72% in favor of Graduate Workers of Columbia-UAW as their union. In addition to drawing on the UAW’s wide experience bargaining contracts with university administrators, we can exercise a stronger political voice through the UAW. With active members at more than 45 major campuses across the US, the UAW has become a strong advocate on policy issues that matter to us as academics, such as federal support for science funding and enhancing the rights of international research scientists.