In a 200-15 vote, over 93% of USC postdoctoral scholars voted to form a union on June 24 and collectively bargain an enforceable contract over working conditions.
The USC Researchers and Fellows United and United Auto Workers (URFU-UAW) will next survey the member body on its most pressing issues, and elect a committee to bargain a contract with the University, Salem Elzway, a postdoctoral fellow in history, said in an email to Annenberg Media.
Issues on the bargaining table will include high costs of living, stagnant salaries, job security for international postdocs, “untenable” childcare and a lack of transparency into working conditions, Elzway said.
Some postdoctoral scholars also alleged “unchecked” abusive conduct by administrators and supervisors, said Dani Cotton, a postdoctoral researcher in chemistry.
Postdoctoral scholars at USC are early career researchers and fellows who have already obtained a PhD. They conduct research for the university, mentor younger scholars, teach and grade courses and write research grants and reports.
Both Cotton and Elzway said postdoctoral students were first “inspired” to form a union after graduate students at USC successfully unionized in February of last year.
That summer, postdocs began discussing their own unionization. Elzway said they were motivated by a “lack of sufficient support” from the university on workplace issues, particularly for postdocs with children and those on visas.
Elzway said one of the main challenges union members faced was “simply locating our fellow postdocs and communicating our desire to them about forming a union” given the “opaqueness of USC’s organizational structure.”
“We respect the outcome of the election, but we are disappointed to lose the direct relationship with our postdoctoral scholars,” the university said in a statement to Annenberg Media. “We are proud of the competitive benefits, compensation and flexibility we offer our employees and look forward to sitting down with the union to negotiate a contract in good faith.”