Tomorrow is the day – we’re going to march, hold up signs, hand out flyers and make some noise at the Inauguration of President Shafik. The best way to support the bargaining committee and ensure we get a better economic offer from Columbia is to show them how many postdocs are upset!

It’s called a Practice Picket, because we’ll be practicing what a strike would look like: leaving work, joining a picket line, and helping organize collective action for a better contract.

WEDNESDAY, 10/4

9:30am-1pm

116th & BROADWAY

RSVP HERE

WE’LL SEE YOU THERE!

Cheers,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Bargaining & Organizing Committees.

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Together, we’ve had over 20 bargaining sessions with Columbia, laying out why postdocs and ARSs need a living wage – and why the university should provide institutional support for it. We rallied and handed out flyers at a lecture hosted by President-Elect Shafik. We’ve delivered a petition demanding a better contract. We’ve reached out to faculty to ask for their support, and received several signatures on our letter to the university. We even made clear our threat to withhold our labor by taking a Strike Authorization Vote.

But, the university continues to refuse to make an offer in line with what the majority of postdocs and ARSs need. And so, we are preparing to strike.

Our first step: let’s show Columbia what our unity behind a better contract looks like by picketing President Shafik’s inauguration.

It’s called a Practice Picket, because we’ll be practicing what a strike would look like: leaving work, joining a picket line, and helping organize collective action for a better contract.

WEDNESDAY, 10/4

9:30am-1pm

116th & BROADWAY

RSVP HERE

WE’LL SEE YOU THERE!

Cheers,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Bargaining & Organizing Committees.

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HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

You likely received an email from Columbia University regarding our contract negotiations. We wanted to clarify a few things, but above all, we want to highlight the importance of Postdocs and ARS supporting each other at this time. 

The best way to support is by encouraging your colleagues to become a union member now here!

• After over 20 bargaining sessions, Columbia is still offering an effective pay cut when considering inflation – currently at 13-17% accumulated since 2020.
• In fact, the university’s proposed 3% yearly increases will not even cover this year’s inflation (currently above 4%)
• “(…) one of the most competitive employers among our Ivy-league peers” does not take into consideration the fact that those peers are all in cities with significantly lower cost-of-living

We are bargaining again tomorrow at 10 am in Studebaker (room 469), when we are expecting to receive a new proposal from Columbia. We are also meeting amongst our members TODAY at 6:30, you can RSVP here.

Once again, showing unity and support for each other is the best way we have to achieve a great contract!

Cheers,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Bargaining & Organizing Committees.

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Dear Columbia Faculty,

We are the postdocs and associate researchers that work in Columbia’s labs and research groups learning to conduct independent research by writing and reviewing grants, authoring papers and mentoring students, among other duties. Together, our union, the Columbia Postdoctoral Workers, represents more than 1600 of us throughout the University. We are writing to give you a first-hand account of our contract negotiations, explain our rationale for institutional support rather than passing on the cost to individual PI grants, and suggest ways to support and advocate for us to the administration in order to avoid a strike.

We acknowledge that grants and awards have not kept pace with inflation and living costs in recent years. In preparation for our negotiations, we commissioned a financial analysis (you can find the report here). Our overarching goal is for the university to start using the proceeds from its considerable reserves to support and invest in research and alleviate some of the burden of the rising cost of living away from grant money. Please read this letter of support circulated by some of your colleagues, and take a moment to add your name and to discuss our need for support with our department chairs and Deans.

While some progress has been made at the bargaining table and we have settled on most issues, the administration, while it doesn’t deny the availability of funds, insists on maintaining the current funding structure so that any gains from our contract negotiations will be taken from research budgets. We need your support in order to change this model.

These are the key aspects that are paramount to us:

• Fair minimum salaries and yearly raises – Adjusting for inflation, our current minimum postdoc salary should be around $71,000. Their last offer was $65,000, which is effectively a pay cut.  We cannot accept anything less than an inflation adjustment. Following Rockefeller and Memorial Sloan Kettering earlier this summer, NYU Langone increased postdoc salaries to $70,000. Specifically we want Columbia to cover this increase using institutional funds like universities such as MIT and Princeton have done.  
• Housing stipend – Columbia University is the only institution in New York City that does not provide guaranteed housing for all its postdocs. This situation places a significant financial burden on many of us, as we end up allocating an average of close to 50% of our salaries to cover rent. This is particularly challenging for international postdocs/ARSs who lack a credit history or local guarantors. We are requesting a housing stipend from central funds, something that certain departments in Columbia Engineering are already implementing.
• Option for fellows to be classified as employees – when we win awards and fellowships we are currently classified as independent contractors, which comes with less favorable benefits and more challenging tax arrangements. Columbia’s current stance is that although they have the option to employ us in most cases, they prefer not to do so. Instead, they agreed to an additional $3,500, likely funded through research grants, to partially offset the disadvantages of our independent contractor status. 
• Increased childcare support – We are requesting that our child care benefit is adjusted based on the number of children, similar to the graduate student contract, rather than a fixed amount of $5,000 which causes inequalities for families with more than one child; and that these funds come from Columbia directly, not grants. 
• Commitment that the administration cannot modify our benefits without engaging in negotiations with us. Currently our contract allows for benefit changes as long as they remain similar to those of all other officers. This led to the suspension of retirement contributions in 2021 for all officers, even though the anticipated economic fallout did not materialize. We oppose the university’s ability to unilaterally decrease benefits, a fundamental part of our compensation, during the life of a contract.

You are undoubtedly aware of the current postdoc shortage in the US. We are witnessing how several of our colleagues are leaving Columbia reluctantly seeking the higher salaries of industry just because we are unable to cover basic necessities in one of the most expensive cities in the world. Diversity in academia is shrinking, with racial disparities broadening, social origins of postdocs narrowing, and women being forced to choose between becoming parents or advancing their career. 

We love the research we do at Columbia and work very hard to move it forward, but the situation is becoming unsustainable for us. This is why we voted overwhelmingly with 98% in favor of authorizing a strike if Columbia continues to refuse a fair contract for researchers. We want to be very clear: we don’t want to strike. Even after the dozens of hours spent pleading our case to the University where we showed countless pieces of evidence, surveys, and testimonials from our members, they continue to claim they can not offer more. While we don’t want to bring research to a halt, we are determined to do what we must to get a fair contract.

An overwhelming majority of our members think that Columbia’s current offer is not reasonable. Unless there is more institutional support to relieve research budgets, a key university core mission such as research, and the long-term viability of public research, are at risk. The future of academia at large is at stake. On our side, we will continue to fight for a dignified contract to ensure that all our members can not only survive, but thrive and continue to focus on what we all care deeply about: our research. 

Please, don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to discuss this or any other ways to support us. 

Yours sincerely, 

Columbia Postdoctoral Workers

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We are holding two essential strike-related events this Thursday where you can hear from postdocs who have gone on strike before, ask questions, and discuss. The Strike Informational Webinar is *now scheduled for 11am on Thursday, September 21*, and the Strike Town Hall will be Thursday evening at 6:30. Can you make it to at least one of them? RSVP below:

*11am* – Strike Informational Webinar

• Featuring postdocs from the University of California and the University of Washington.
• They will share insights on how they successfully negotiated their contracts after going on strike. You’ll have the chance to ask questions and gain tips for our contract campaign.
• Hosted by us and SPOC (Mt. Sinai postdoc union)

RSVP to join the Webinar and submit questions for them

 (the recording will be also provided after the event)

6:30 pm – Strike Town Hall/Membership Meeting

• Join us for a Town Hall and membership meeting to discuss the progress of our bargaining efforts and the next steps following our Strike Authorization Vote.

RSVP in person (Morningside, CUIMC and ZI) or zoom here 

These events will help us prepare for the possibility of a strike, which is the best way to put maximum pressure on Columbia and avoid having to strike at all. We look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Bargaining & Organizing Committees.

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Our fight for a fair contract continues! While today’s bargaining session didn’t yield significant progress (see details below), we remain committed to win the priorities established by a majority of postdocs and ARSs. To help build this pressure, we have two important events scheduled for next Thursday, 09/21/23:

Noon – Strike Informational Webinar

• This webinar will feature postdocs from the University of California and the University of Washington.
• They will share insights on how they successfully negotiated their recent contracts after going on strike. You’ll have the chance to ask questions and gain valuable tips for our campaign for a fair contract.
• Hosted by us and SPOC (postdoc union at Mt. Sinai)

RSVP to join the Webinar and submit questions for them

 (the recording will be also provided after the event)

6:30 pm – Strike Town Hall/Membership Meeting

• Join us for a Town Hall and membership meeting to discuss the progress of our bargaining efforts and the next steps following our Strike Authorization Vote.

RSVP in person (Morningside or CUIMC) or zoom here 

Quick recap from Today’s session

• Today marked our 20th bargaining session, during which we presented our latest package.
• The Administration reiterated they don’t want to alter the research funding structure. Consequently, they consider our requests for institutional support for housing stipends and child care benefits unreasonable.
• After deliberation, we have mutually agreed to explore the involvement of a Federal mediator in our upcoming session.
• We have also scheduled two more bargaining sessions for September 22nd and September 27th, pending the mediator’s availability.

RSVP for upcoming sessions

Thank you for your continued support! We look forward to seeing you at these important events to ensure a fair contract!

Cheers,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Bargaining & Organizing Committees.

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HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

Want to stay informed? Check out our website and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and join our and Slack​.

After receiving CU admin’s unreasonable and unrealistic offer last Thursday (a compensation offer that is a real-terms pay cut), one thing became clear to all of our members in attendance: our strike authorization vote was unfortunately not enough to get the offer we deserve, and we need to keep escalating. At our membership meeting this week, we discussed minimum required thresholds for an acceptable contract, and escalating actions building up to potentially organizing for a strike to attain the contract we deserve. Keep an eye for further emails, meetings and spaces to discuss next steps!

This Thursday, 9/7, at 5pm, we have an opportunity to push Columbia to resolve our contract before a strike begins by offering institutional support against the inflation which has swallowed up our wages.

Join your fellow postdocs and ARSs and our union colleagues from across the university as we flier attendees to a lecture on inflation – hosted by President ‘Minouche’ Shafik – demanding that Shafik and Columbia stop ignoring the need of their own workers in light of our current economic injustices.

We will be joined by Columbia colleagues from other unions: SWC, 2110, SEIU 1199, and others – but our negotiations will not be successful without YOU!

We look forward to seeing you (and your colleagues!) this Thursday at 5 pm! Forward this email on to lab mates or any peers who might also want to attend in solidarity

Sincerely,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Bargaining & Organizing Committees.

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and join our and Slack​.

Yesterday we had our first bargaining session since our Strike Authorization Vote and we wanted to give a quick update, given how Columbia’s administration has behaved on the table. 

As a reminder, we ONLY had our economic package left to discuss. After initially refusing to talk about anything other than Art. 2: Appointments, and disrespectfully interrupting us multiple times, they offered a comprehensive offer of settlement. Here’s the summary:

The only movement made on housing was including a line on the hardship fund on how postdocs could request reimbursement in case of a housing emergency. If used as a housing supplement, this amounts to roughly $50 per postdoc per year. 

The administration urged us to “be more realistic and reasonable” with our requests. We think it’s reasonable that postdocs/ARSs should get a salary that compensates for the high inflation. We also think it’s realistic to ask Columbia University, a multibillion-dollar endeavor, to help us with affordable housing, especially in New York City.

What the University presented today results in postdocs/ARSs getting an effective pay cut and leaves them with no housing support. All the while Columbia remains the largest university landowner in the city. We think CU’s Admin offer is unreasonable and unrealistic.

We are saddened that the University is taking this route and believe that further collective action is required off the bargaining table. We will follow up with a more in depth report of the session and details on what these actions could look like in the coming days. 
In the meantime, please share this email with your colleagues and this letter of support written by some PIs supporting us. Reach out if your PI wants to add their signature!

Sincerely,

Your Friendly Neighborhood Bargaining & Organizing Committees.

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HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

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We are excited to inform you that our contract campaign is in full swing after these 2 past weeks of organizing for our historic strike authorization vote. Here are the headlines: 

• 🗳️ 962 postdocs & associate researchers voted in our strike authorization vote – our highest participation since the 2018 vote to form our union! 
• ✅ 97.56% of union members VOTED YES to authorize the bargaining committee to call a strike if there is not enough progress towards our contract demands
• ✍️ In addition, over 130 new members have signed a membership card  to officially join our union since bargaining started, greatly building our power (haven’t signed yet? Do it here!)

What is next?

• Wednesday August 30th at 6.30pm we will have our monthly membership meeting, in which we will discuss next steps including bargaining updates and if/when/how we would consider a strike
  • RSVP for the meeting in person or zoom here

• On Thursday August 31st starting at 10am (current location is Studebaker but trying to move it to CUIMC) – we will have our 19th bargaining session. Our team will present the results of the vote and let  Columbia admin know that we are ready and willing to truly fight for our demands.
  • RSVP to attend the bargaining session here
  • Follow along with live updates on Slack
  • Join our caucuses – when  we break from admin to discuss our next steps including a zoom room – you are encouraged to join to give your opinion!

Where are we in bargaining?

We are expecting a response from the Columbia administration in the few articles left to finalize. These are: 

1.- Compensation (new minimum salaries and yearly raises), 

2.- Benefits (including a housing stipend and the hardship fund to cover medical emergencies), 

3.- Child Care benefits, 

4.- Appointments (covering who is included in our union and will receive all benefits of our new contract and whether Fellows will have full employment status) and 

5.- Duration of our next contract –  which we will win next! 

While we continue our fight for key economic topics, it’s also important to remember that we have come a long way with important victories for our new contract (like $1,250 towards covering Visa renewal costs, neutral arbitration in cases of bullying and venues to improve IP/authorship rights & DEI during the life of the contract).

Thank You!

This campaign is possible thanks to hundreds of postdocs and Associate researchers building our union, reaching out to coworkers, engaging in meetings and rallies, petitions and events. Every vote in the SAV, every new member, and every conversation about our union builds our collective power and moves us closer to the contract we deserve. On behalf of the Organizing Committee, Bargaining Committee and Elections Committee, we would like to sincerely thank everyone for their ongoing time and efforts in this contract campaign! We hope you share the energy and excitement we feel at this moment, as we continue to use our strength to finish this campaign with a contract that recognizes our efforts, value and experience.

Become a member today!

Get involved to build your union!

Want to share the good news? Our emails often get blocked – share this email with a colleague today to make sure they’ve seen it and to celebrate together!

You can also share this news on Twitter or Instagram

In solidarity, 

CPW Organizing committee & Organizers

Panos Oikonomou, Associate researcher in Biological Sciences 

Michael Mauro, postdoc in Pathology and Cell Biology

Thomas Donoghue, postdoc in Biomedical Engineering

Álvaro Cuesta-Domínguez, Associate researcher in Physiology and Cellular Biophysics

Elsy El Khoury, postdoc in Chemistry

Jatan Buch, postdoc at Earth and Environmental Engineering

Bill Glassford, Associate researcher in Zuckerman Institute

Jinqiu Lu, postdoc in Medicine – Hematology and Oncology

Marti Cadena Sandoval, postdoc in Pathology and Cell Biology

Nachi Kamatkar, postdoc Fellow in Medicine – Preventive Medicine 

Josue Curto Navarro, postdoc in Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center

Mark He, postdoc in Biostatistics

Matt Jerram, postdoc in Geochemistry

Tanguy Lucas, postdoc in Zuckerman Institute

Sreeharsha Gurrapu, Associate researcher in Genetics

Jeff Johnston, postdoc in Zuckerman Institute

Rosie Cater, Associate researcher in Physiology and Cellular Biophysics

Giulia Zanni, Psychiatry

Rossella Labella, postdoc in Physiology and Cellular Biophysics

Oriol Bover Centelles, postdoc in Medicine – Pulmonary

Tania Wong, Associate researcher in Pediatrics – Infectious Diseases

Laura Xicota Vila, Associate researcher in Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center

Rachel Gonzalez, postdoc fellow in Physiology and Cellular Biophysics

Martina Proietti Onori, postdoc in Zuckerman Institute

Anna K. Yoney, postdoc in Department of Genetics and Medicine

Syed M. Shoiab Bukhari, Associate researcher in Medicine – Immunology

Samantha Plummer, Associate researcher in the Justice Lab

Gan Zhou, postdoc in Dental Medicine

Chiara Camillo, Associate researcher in Surgery

Astrid Deryckere, postdoc Fellow in Biological Sciences

CPW Bargaining committee

Cora Bergantiños-Crespo, previous Associate researcher in Genetics and Development 

Enrica Calzoni, previous postdoc in Pediatrics 

Erica Rodriguez, postdoc Fellow in Zuckerman Institute

Fede Amoedo, Associate researcher in Neurology

Georgia Ntermentzaki, Associate researcher in Systems Biology

PJ Brun,  Associate researcher in Medicine – Preventive Medicine

Rafa Gras,  Associate researcher in Medicine – Nephrology

Stefano Cataldi,  Associate researcher in Psychiatry

Sumaira Zamurrad,  postdoc fellow in Zuckerman Institute

Thiago Arzua,  postdoc in Zuckerman Institute

CPW-UAW Elections Committee

John Christin, postdoc in Medicine – Hematology and Oncology

Camilo Duarte, postdoc in Mechanical Engineering

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HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

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and join our and Slack​.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Strike Authorization Vote, which ended yesterday at midnight. Postdocs and Associate Researchers at Columbia University cast a total of 962 ballots. Union members voted with a majority of 97.56% Yes to authorize our elected Bargaining Committee to call a strike if they believe it is necessary to achieve our contract demands. 

Members voted as follows: 

• 97.56% voted in favor of authorizing a strike
• 0.86% voted against authorizing a strike
• 1.58% Abstained

Out of the total ballots cast:

• 96.36% voted in favor of authorizing a strike
• 1.25% voted against authorizing a strike 
• 2.39% abstained

We will follow up soon with more details about these results and our next steps. We look forward to discussing with everyone as we continue to build our campaign to win a fair contract. 

In solidarity,

CPW-UAW 4100 Elections Committee

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HAVE AN ISSUE? GET IN CONTACT!

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