Frequently Asked Questions

We are CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates–UAW (CPR-UAW), workers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) who are forming a union in order to improve our research and working conditions. Our work as Postdocs and Research Associates not only drives the world-class research and scholarship at CHOP, but also substantially contributes to our employer’s reputation and intellectual property world-wide. While we work across many fields, our dedication to our research and scholarship unites us all.

By forming a union of Postdocs and Research Associates, we can build a stronger, more democratic voice for researchers at CHOP, a voice with more power to demand improvements in our working conditions and to secure our rights in a legally-binding contract with the research institute.

We are forming our union with the United Auto Workers (UAW). Affiliating with the UAW means joining tens of thousands of researchers and other higher education employees who are already part of the UAW, including postdoctoral researchers at University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Massachusetts, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Washington, the Weill Cornell School of Medicine, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. By working together with these and other academic unions across the country, we can also build political power beyond CHOP to impact funding, visa, and other policies at the national, state, and local levels that shape our experience in academia as scientists and scholars.

Forming a union with collective bargaining rights gives us the power to negotiate on equal footing with CHOP administration and secure our terms and conditions of employment in a legally-binding contract. Forming a union and joining with tens of thousands of other UAW academic workers across the United States will also help us have a stronger voice on key policy decisions made outside CHOP that affect us as researchers, such as federal funding for scientific research and federal rules affecting visas and other immigration issues.

By joining with unionized academic workers nationwide, we hope to make changes that will create more positive and productive work environments for future Postdocs and Research Associates while also improving career pathways for future scientists in the U.S. and beyond.

Postdocs are academic researchers who have completed their PhD and work in a principal investigators’ lab and/or with a faculty advisor, usually as preparation for applying to faculty jobs. At CHOP, postdoc positions can last up to 5 years. After that, workers perform very similar duties for similar pay and benefits but are given the title of “Research Associate Scientist.” We are unionizing together to maximize our collective power and improve working conditions for all post-PhD research employees.

Collective bargaining is a process, protected by U.S. law, that equalizes the power relationship between employees and their employer. 

Under collective bargaining, CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates would elect representatives to negotiate on equal footing with the CHOP administration and put the terms of our employment into a legally binding contract. Through collective bargaining, Postdocs and other academic workers across the country have successfully negotiated improved wages and benefits, stronger protections against discrimination and harassment, expanded family-friendly benefits like paid leave and childcare subsidies, and other important provisions.

Postdocs at CHOP started discussing the idea of forming a union in response to similar organizing efforts occurring among academic workers across the United States. As Penn Postdocs and Research Associates organized their own union, many of us at CHOP feel a similar need for a democratic voice and improved conditions as key facets of the CHOP community.

The UAW represents more than 140,000 academic workers across the United States, including more Postdocs and graduate student employees than any other union. In the last four years alone, over 71,000 academic workers around the country have chosen to become part of the UAW, including over 15,000 throughout the East Coast.

The UAW has particular experience with helping to negotiate and enforce strong postdoc contracts. For example:

• 7,000 Postdocs at the ten University of California campuses formed the first dedicated postdoctoral workers’ union in 2008 and approved their first UAW contract in 2010. In the fall of 2022, 48,000 UC academic workers, including thousands of Postdocs, academic researchers, student researchers, and other academic student employees, went on strike to win improvements on pay, benefits, and workplace rights, making historic gains. Postdocs voted to ratify their contract by 89.4%.
• In 2018, Postdocs and associate researchers at Columbia University in NYC voted by 68% to form their union with the UAW — the first union of postdoctoral workers at a private institution in the United States — and ratified their first contract in 2020 by 99%, with a majority participating. 
• University of Connecticut Postdocs unionized in 2018 and overwhelmingly approved their first contract in 2020. 
• Postdocs at the University of Washington voted by 89% percent to form their union with the UAW in 2018. In June 2023, Postdocs and research scientists and engineers at the University of Washington went on an historic 9-day strike. UW Postdocs subsequently ratified their union contract by 98.7%.
• Postdocs at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai voted to form their union by 89.5% in June 2022 and, in December 2023, they ratified their first contract by 98%, with a majority voting.
• Postdocs and Research Associates at Penn voted by 95% in favor of forming their union in 2025 and are currently in negotiations over their first union contract.
• Read more about UAW’s success in helping academic workers negotiate concrete improvements to wages, benefits, and workplace rights.

In addition to drawing on the UAW’s extensive experience in bargaining contracts with academic institutions, we can exercise a strong political voice through the UAW. With active members at more than 50 campuses across the United States, 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.

Both a strong union and our existing postdoc organizations can play a critical role in improving the lives of CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates. The CHOP Postdoctoral Association (CPA) provides important opportunities for Postdocs to participate in numerous social and career development opportunities, as well as advocacy efforts; however, these existing organizations are not a viable alternative to a union. While the CPA can make recommendations to the institution on behalf of Postdocs, it cannot engage in legally-binding collective bargaining. In other words, CHOP admin is not legally obligated to negotiate with representatives from the CPA over Postdoc and Research Associate working conditions, whereas the administration would be required to bargain with a certified or recognized union due to federal law. Furthermore, improvements in the postdoc experience advocated by postdoc associations like the CPA are not ultimately protected by a legally enforceable contract, meaning they can be altered unilaterally by CHOP at any time. Unions and postdoc associations often work together at academic institutions where both exist, but they serve distinct functions.

Yes! We are part of a broader movement to make all research workplaces better. If you are leaving soon, you can still support the effort while you are here by signing an authorization card and talking to your current and incoming colleagues about forming a union.

The transitory nature of our jobs as Postdocs and Research Associates contributes to a system that justifies inadequate pay and benefits, causing us to be vulnerable to replacement. In many ways, this makes forming a union even more essential in establishing a fair workplace for researchers at CHOP! Establishing a union would provide Postdocs and Research Associates with a representative organization to negotiate and enforce a binding contract, ensuring that term-limited employment does not leave us vulnerable to being taken advantage of by the research institute and creating continuity and institutional memory through a formal contract. Furthermore, our union will be part of the broader researcher labor movement at major institutions across the United States; every research workplace that organizes makes science careers better for all of us. 

We – all CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates – are the union! After CPR-UAW becomes a certified or recognized union, we will start the process of negotiating a contract with the administration. There will be many important opportunities to democratically make our voices heard through our union:

• First, we will democratically elect a bargaining committee of our colleagues – representative of Postdocs and Research Associates at CHOP.
• Based on surveys and town halls open to all Postdocs and Research Associates, the committee will develop initial bargaining goals. Postdocs and Research Associates vote to ratify these goals.
• The committee will meet with CHOP administration representatives to negotiate in pursuit of our democratically-determined bargaining goals.
• The bargaining committee will be aided throughout by experienced negotiators and other UAW representatives.
• When our bargaining committee has negotiated a tentative agreement with CHOP that they feel they can recommend, all Postdocs and Research Associates will have an opportunity to vote on whether to ratify it as our first contract.
• After the contract is ratified, we will democratically elect representatives from among CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates who will help run the Local Union, ensure that CHOP does not violate the terms of the contract, and represent members with grievances and other workplace issues.

This is how we will build a union that can represent us all!

Postdocs and Research Associates make up our union and will democratically prioritize which improvements to pursue in contract negotiations. In other words, we have the power and democratic voice to decide what we want to negotiate for in a contract and will do so based on our collective priorities. As a union, we will negotiate as equals with the administration for the changes we want to make. We cannot guarantee which changes will be reflected in the final contract, but with input from all CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates, our elected bargaining committee will negotiate with an understanding of the goals and priorities of the broader Postdoc and Research Associate community.

With a union, all Postdocs and Research Associates will have the power to vote on whether to approve any negotiated contract. An agreement will only become our union contract if a majority of participating Postdocs and Research Associates vote in favor of approving it. If we are unsatisfied, we can vote against it and go back to the negotiating table to work out a better agreement.

An enforceable contract will secure workplace improvements against unilateral changes by the administration. Currently, the administration can change policies and benefits without any obligation to consult us.

Postdocs have negotiated improvements to their salaries, benefits, family-friendly policies, workspace, and materials; have established fair processes for addressing sexual and other forms of discrimination and harassment; and have negotiated greater job stability and protections for international researchers. 

Read more about what Postdocs and researchers have won at other universities:

• Columbia University Postdoctoral Researchers (UAW Local 4100)
• University of California Postdocs (UAW Local 5810)
• Mt. Sinai Postdocs (UAW Local 4100)
• University of Washington Postdocs (UAW Local 4121)
• University of Connecticut Postdocs (UAW Local 6950)
• Weill Cornell School of Medicine Postdocs (UAW Local 4100)

Membership dues are important because they provide the resources necessary for effective representation. As part of the UAW, we will not pay dues until we have gone through the bargaining process and voted democratically to approve our first contract.

Dues are critical for providing us with independent resources that are not controlled by the CHOP administration. We use them to ensure we have appropriate legal, bargaining, community, and organizing support to represent all Postdocs and Research Associates. UAW membership dues are currently 1.44% of gross monthly income and can only be increased by membership action (e.g., the membership in a few local unions have voted to increase dues above 1.44% to have more resources). In the UAW, there is also a one-time initiation fee, which ranges from $10 to $50 per worker and is determined democratically by local union members.

The value of increased wages and benefits in the first contract typically outweighs the cost of dues, often leading to overwhelming majority approval of those agreements. For example, Postdocs at the Weill Cornell School of Medicine won immediate salary increases of 10% to 26% as well as a 20% to 38% salary increase over the duration of their 32-month contract. Unionized Postdocs at Mt. Sinai received a 23% to 26% increase to minimum salary rates upon ratification of their first contract. Columbia Postdocs went from having the lowest minimum salaries for Postdocs in NYC to the highest in the first year of their contract, an increase of between 14.5% to 20%, along with guaranteed annual increases and other improvements. The base wages for UC Postdocs have gone up by more than 50% since they ratified their first contract in 2010. Postdocs and Research Associates at Penn are currently negotiating with their university for similar wage increases. 

It takes resources to have a strong union, from the earliest stages of forming a union for the first time, to bargaining and campaigning for the first contract, to enforcing rights under an existing contract, and advocating on policy issues that matter to the membership. Dues provide those resources.

Dues generally cover all of the day-to-day costs to have a strong union, including paying for legal representation, staffing, rent, equipment, and supplies.  

Most of the day-to-day work enforcing the contract and representing our membership is provided by the Local Union, our UAW-affiliated union of Postdocs and Research Associates at CHOP (CPR-UAW). Under the UAW Constitution, the Local Union automatically keeps 27% of dues money to support its expenses (staffing for representation, rent, equipment, supplies, etc.). The rest of the dues go to the International Union, which is the parent organization for all UAW-affiliated Local Unions. However, depending on the overall financial health of the International Union’s Strike and Defense Fund, some funds are returned to the Local Union. Thus, in a typical month, the Local Union retains 37% of dues money.

UAW Local Unions have used their dues money to help members defend their rights. As examples, you can read this summary of successful grievance handling by the UAW Local Union at the University of Washington and articles about unionized Postdocs fighting pregnancy discrimination at the University of California, and UConn graduate assistants addressing sexual harassment.

The UAW International Union has affiliated locals throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. The portion of our dues money allocated to the International Union would go to the union’s General Fund (26%), Strike and Defense Fund (44%), and Community Action Program (3%). These funds would support CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates in several ways:

• Paying technical experts to help negotiate on equal terms with the CHOP administration, including:
• Health insurance experts who can take on the institute’s consultants in order to pursue the best benefits for the best price
• Researchers who can help analyze CHOP finances
• Lawyers who can provide advice, including visa issues
• Experienced negotiators to help achieve our goals, both at the bargaining table and in developing an overall campaign to win a strong contract
• Providing support for new organizing campaigns. For example, the resources supporting CPR-UAW come from existing UAW members’ dues, including those in higher education and other industries. Our dues would help support other organizing campaigns, including other workers at CHOP
• Taking political action. As noted above, 3% of dues go toward the UAW Community Action Program, which supports progressive community and political action, including legislative and other policy advocacy on issues that matter to UAW members. For example, the UAW advocates strongly for fair, comprehensive immigration reform and expanded federal support for research funding, among other topics. (NOTE: Legally, dues money cannot be used for federal campaign contributions, such as the presidential race. Union members can choose to contribute additional non-dues money to the UAW Voluntary Community Action Program, which can contribute to federal campaigns.)

CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates (CPR-UAW) seeks to represent anyone who holds a position as a Postdoctoral Researcher or Research Associate at CHOP. If you are a researcher at CHOP and have questions about your eligibility or want to sign up, please reach out to us via this general interest form and another postdoc or Research Associate will get in touch.

International Postdocs and researchers have the same legal right to join a union as U.S. citizens. International researchers have been instrumental in organizing and running postdoc unions at the University of Pennsylvania (UAW Local 5124), the University of California (UAW Local 5810), and Mt. Sinai Hospital (SPOC-UAW Local 4100). Unionization can result in protections that are especially valuable for international academic employees, which are particularly valuable at CHOP whose international workforce is historically greater than 50%.

International Postdocs and Research Associates are an integral part of the community of researchers at CHOP. In addition to the overall upheaval that accompanies relocation, we have to contend with unique challenges at the workplace: visa and immigration precarity, complicated tax laws, zero support for finding housing and settling into the Philadelphia community, and insufficient support from administration on all of these issues and more. This is why forming a union can be especially vital to international Postdocs! By unionizing, we can collectively bargain for a more supportive and equitable workplace that is sensitive to our status as non-citizens. Other academic worker union contracts have made substantial wins for international scholars, like:

• Visa cost reimbursement at UMass Amherst (PRO-UAW, up to $1000/year) and Columbia (CPW-UAW, up to $1500/year)
• Paid time off for immigration proceedings at Columbia (CPW-UAW)
• Protection from job loss due to visa interruption at Mt. Sinai (SPOC-UAW) by holding the position for a minimum of 60 days
• Two-year initial appointments for Postdocs in the UC system (UAW 5150)

With roughly 140,000 academic workers, the UAW has become a powerful organization advocating  to improve conditions for international scholars and students. For years, the UAW has fought hard to improve the status and working conditions of non-citizen workers. 

For example, the UAW fought to enhance the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program as an important path for international student workers to work in the US after completion of their PhD. More recently, the UAW-affiliated academic worker unions helped lead the fight against Executive Orders issued by former President Trump that targeted international scholars and students. In 2017, the UAW International filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case challenging the Trump administration’s travel ban. In July 2020, thanks to direct action by UAW academic workers across the country alongside university and government allies, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) backed down from its directive to deport international students taking online classes due to COVID-19. In October 2020, UAW academic workers mobilized against a proposed rule by ICE to shorten visa stays for international scholars. Thousands of public comments were submitted, including by the President of the UAW International. 

Over the past two years, UAW academic workers have organized multiple efforts to defend international researchers and scholars from immigration-related attacks. Unionized higher education workers have created support resources for international members, including a free hotline staffed by immigration attorneys, FAQs, and know-your-rights webinars, and have won new institutional protections such as a legal support fund at the University of California. The UAW has also backed major legal challenges to government policies targeting non-citizen academics, including:

• Serving as a plaintiff in International Union, UAW v. US Department of State, challenging Trump administration programs designed to surveil, intimidate and silence noncitizens who express views that the government disfavors;
• Serving as a plaintiff in Global Nurse Force v. Trump, challenging the administration’s changes to the H-1B visa program;
• Serving as a plaintiff in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. US Citizenship & Immigration Services, challenging administration policies pausing all asylum applications and pausing and limiting immigration benefits including green cards and visa changes, for individuals from 39 specific countries;
• Supporting litigation against the Trump administration’s policy of arresting or deporting scholars for protected speech in the case American Association of University Professors v. Rubio, which argued that deporting students and faculty for their political expression violated constitutional protections;
• Joining amicus briefs in cases such as Svitlana Doe v. Noem, challenging the termination of the TCHNV parole program that allowed certain immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to live and work lawfully in the United States, and Trump v. Barbara, challenging the Trump executive order limiting birthright citizenship.  

Beyond the courts, UAW academic workers have lobbied Congress to expand visa and green-card access and to oppose policies targeting Chinese students and scholars.

UAW Local Unions also provide important resources for researchers on visas. For example, Columbia University Postdocs used their union to fight for international researchers to be able to work remotely when they could not return to the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic. They put pressure on the Columbia administration and engaged allies in Congress to support researchers stranded abroad.

International researchers at CHOP have the same federally guaranteed labor rights as U.S. citizens. Thus, signing an authorization card will not jeopardize or delay application for legal permanent residence. Union authorization cards are submitted to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, which is the third-party federal authority that verifies and counts the cards, and are not released to your PI, the CHOP administration, or other government agencies. Since 2008, thousands of international postdoctoral researchers and other academic workers have signed union authorization cards around the country. There have been no reported instances of green card applications getting delayed or rejected as a result of signing an authorization card or otherwise participating in a unionization effort.

The length of time necessary to negotiate a strong first contract has depended on the strength of the campaign and the willingness of the employer to bargain in good faith. CHOP could help ensure a timely process by agreeing on a fair and efficient time frame with regularly scheduled bargaining sessions and a strong commitment to reaching a fair agreement. 

At other major research institutions where Postdocs have formed unions, researchers have been able to negotiate significant improvements despite facing opposition from their employers. Postdocs at Columbia University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Washington, and the University of California negotiated for 16 months, 13 months, 13 months, and 18 months, respectively. But it is also possible to negotiate much more quickly.  For example, with a serious commitment to reach a fair agreement by the administration, 4,000 student employees at the University of Washington negotiated their first contract in just under two months.

Postdocs have not seen this happen at other institutions. 

We all share an interest in preserving the quality of research happening at CHOP. Collective bargaining over salary means we can negotiate on equal footing in order to hold CHOP more accountable to do the best it can do for its Postdocs and Research Associates. It is important to note that, as a union, we will have access to CHOP’s financial information that affects Postdocs and Research Associates. This will allow us to be well-informed and conscientious as we engage in bargaining, so that we balance improving salaries, benefits, and protections for Postdocs and Research Associates with maintaining enough positions to keep research productivity high. 

Finally, all union decisions, including negotiated raises, will be made democratically by Postdocs and Research Associates. We will collectively decide what to ask for in bargaining at CHOP and, ultimately, vote on whether to approve any agreement as a contract. 

Currently, CHOP has complete power to change our benefits and pay however they want to. Once a union is formed, CHOP will no longer be able to change our pay and benefits or other terms and conditions of our employment unilaterally. Instead, such changes will be decided through collective bargaining. In other words, once we have a union, CHOP administrators must negotiate in good faith with Postdocs and Research Associates to decide the terms and conditions of our employment. Once a tentative agreement is made, Postdocs and Research Associates will vote on whether to approve a binding, enforceable contract specifying those terms and conditions.

No. There has never been a contract negotiated by a UAW union for academic workers that required all covered employees to receive the same pay. As Postdocs and Research Associates, we will make our own decisions about our contract and it would be unlikely that we would negotiate for, or vote to approve, a contract that required all Postdocs and Research Associates to be paid the same. As an example, we could propose a wage structure like the one that Postdocs at the University of California have won through collective bargaining:

1. A minimum salary that exceeds the NIH base wage for Postdocs
2. Guaranteed annual wage increases
3. PIs have a right to pay above the base wage
4. Strong enforcement provisions that let us hold CHOP accountable through the union if we don’t receive the pay increases we are guaranteed

Postdocs will democratically decide how we want to negotiate pay, but there are no UAW academic worker contracts that require all workers to be paid the same. Instead, UAW academic contracts have established minimum rights on different aspects of researcher working conditions, while preserving the ability of PIs and researchers to negotiate above those minimums.  At both Columbia and the University of California, for example, postdoctoral researchers negotiated pay scales that guarantee minimum salaries but state that the institution may pay more.

As a union, researchers will be negotiating with the CHOP administration, not with our PIs and supervisors, because it is CHOP’s policies that define our employment conditions. 

Moreover, researchers will set the bargaining agenda and decide what improvements to prioritize in collective bargaining. Thus, a union contract would only create changes (for instance, introducing Individual Development Plan requirements to encourage career development, which appears in some academic researcher union contracts) if Postdocs and Research Associates democratically chose to prioritize them. And forming a union would mean that the CHOP administration would not be able to make unilateral changes to working conditions that Postdocs choose to negotiate in our contract.

In addition, many PIs appreciate working with unionized researchers, because a union contract means PIs do not have to spend time negotiating every term and condition of employment (e.g., wages, health care, leave, childcare, non-discrimination protections, vacation, appointment letter terms, visa terms, etc.) for each of their Postdocs Instead, both PIs and their Postdoc and Research Associate employees can focus on their research.

By forming a union of Postdocs and Research Associates, we can negotiate to keep things that we like in our contract, as well as having a collective voice to push back if the CHOP administration tries to make changes that negatively affect us. 

At a large institution like CHOP, the systems in place can harm workers even if their direct supervisor is a supportive advocate. Currently, CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates have no enforceable workplace protections, and even a well-intentioned PI might not be able to fix the problem at the institutional level. With a union, we would have collective power — backed by federal law — to protect our rights in the workplace.

If we form a union, all decisions — including the decision about whether or not to strike — will be made democratically by CHOP Postdocs and Research Associates. A strike is a very powerful tool for unionized workers, but it would only occur if we, as union members, collectively decided that a strike was necessary. Under the UAW Constitution, two-thirds of workers participating in a strike authorization vote must vote yes in order to authorize a strike. Also, while a strike is most effective if we all participate, it is an individual decision whether or not to do so.

At the University of California, for example, unionized postdocs and academic researchers have voted to authorize strikes on several occasions. In most cases, this threat of strike put pressure on the UC administration and helped them to reach agreements without actually striking. In 2022, 48,000 academic workers at UC — including postdocs, academic researchers, and student researchers and employees — chose to go on strike together to win better pay, benefits, and workplace rights. The gains that UC Postdocs made as a result of this strike were historic, and UC Postdocs voted to ratify their contract by 89.4%. More recently, in December 2023, Postdocs at Mt. Sinai went on a historic 12-day strike, which led to a favorable union contract that included the highest minimum salary for Postdocs in the country. In February 2026, Graduate Workers at Penn won a strong first union contract after workers voted to authorize a strike. Ultimately, Penn Grad Workers did not need to strike in order to win significant improvements and voted to ratify their contract by 99%.