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Grad Student and Postdoc Organizations

Up to Succeeding in Graduate School

Grad students and postdocs are organizing, even unionizing in some cases. Here are links to organizations and resources for potential organizers.

Graduate Student Associations in the US
Postdoctoral Associations



Hell no! We won't grade!
by Sean McMeekin, Salon Magazine, November 30, 1998. "Will the upcoming strike by University of California graduate teaching assistants raise them from their serflike status -- or spell their eventual doom?"
Thanks for the Great Postdoc Bargain
Harvard labor economist Richard Freeman on the contributions of postdocs.
ScienceCareers.org | Lobbying Congress: A New Role for Postdocs?
sciencecareers.org, 7 September 2001 - Robert Bartolo [bobdc2 at verizon.net ] In this opinion piece, Robert Bartolo * argues that improving the employment conditions of postdoctoral researchers requires more than institution-level action. Bartolo also argues that postdocs, and those working with them, have an important role in establishing national priorities for research and development. Possible action items for grassroots postdoc organizing at the national level might include: * Persuading Congress, NIH, NSF, and other funders to classify postdocs as employees instead of "nonemployees" or "trainees," in order to facilitate extension of full employee benefits. * Persuading Congress, NSF, NIH, and other funders to increase the minimum salaries for postdocs and work toward increasing the use of research scientist positions with complete compensation packages.....
A Union Contract Aimed at Preserving the Postdoc Experience
Science's Next Wave, April, 2004. Postdocs at the University of Connecticut get a union-negotiated contract. It sounds a lot like the kinds of things postdoc associations have been pushing for for years with mixed success: minimum stipends, good benefits, excellent vacation, formal reviews, a well defined grievance procedure.
UC Graduate TA's Go on Strike
A systemwide strike for University of California schools went into effect December 1, 1998. The Association of Graduate Student Employees provides news of the strike.
Graduate-Student Unions Don't Hurt Professor-Advisee Relations, Survey Finds
Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 5, 1999. "University administrators have complained for years that graduate-student unions poison relations between professors and their advisees, but a new study challenges that theory."
The State of the Union
Beryl Benderly, ScienceCareers. "Two years ago this month, the nation’s first postdoc union, University Health Professionals (UHP) at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC) in Farmington, overwhelmingly ratified its first contract. The pact provided higher pay, improved benefits, and a robust grievance procedure. Supporters of postdoc unions hoped it would launch a national movement. Detractors, meanwhile, feared it would damage postdocs’ relations with their advisers and their career prospects."
Day 10 on the Picket Line
"Striking New York University graduate students trickled toward the picket line at 8 a.m. Monday, continuing the strike prompted by the university’s decision to end recognition of the graduate student union this summer. There has been no official contact between university and union officials, but strike supporters say their resolve is as strong as ever. Today will be their 10th day on strike."
Medical Students Sue Over Residency System
New York Times, May 7, 2002. "The suit says the defendants, including seven medical organizations and more than 1,000 private hospitals, have used the program to keep residents' wages low and hours long. Almost all first-year residents make less than $40,000 a year and often work 100-hour weeks.... Defenders of the matching program say that it is a mistake to think about it in purely commercial terms.... 'It's not exactly a job, it's a continuation of a medical education,' said Kevin Jon Williams, a professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, who has written extensively on the matching program." There are some interesting parallels for postdocs.
Conflicting Claims on NYU Strike
Dec 12, 2005. "New York University told striking graduate assistants that they would lose their stipends for the spring if they did not return to class last Wednesday. With the day of reckoning having passed, some graduate assistants have ended their strike, while others maintain that they will stop at nothing short of union recognition."
AAUP's Statement on Graduate Students
A statement on graduate student rights from the American Association of University Professors.
Group seeks less tax on grad student stipends
November 19, 2002. "A national organization of graduate students is hoping to get a bill passed early next year that would greatly reduce the taxability of graduate stipends, easing financial pressure on a group that often struggles to satisfy educational and living expenses with meager stipends."
Unionized Yale graduate students vote to strike
CNN, Feb 20, 2003. "A group of Yale University graduate students voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to authorize its leaders to call a strike if school officials refuse to recognize their union."
Grad Student Unionization on NPR's Morning Edition
June 3, 1999. "NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports that an increasing number of teaching assistants at graduate schools are organizing and joining unions. They are no longer willing to accept substandard pay for teaching classes, grading papers, and doing research for their professors. Three years ago, about a dozen university campuses had unionized graduate students. Now there are union organizing drives at 25 more." (Requires a RealAudio player)
Opinions on TA unionization at NYU
Comments from NYU students and faculty about unionization. Very interesting stuff.
Getting organized - Naturejobs
Postdoctoral associations on both sides of the Atlantic are mobilizing together to tackle problems...
The Activated State: An Argument for Involved Scientists
by Peter Fiske, Next Wave, May 21, 1999. Why young scientists should get involved in shaping graduate education.
Students for Responsible Research
A graduate student group formed in response to Berkeley's virtual privatization of its Department of Plant and Microbial Biology through a deal with Novartis. "As a public institution, the University of California is responsible for following the spirit of its charter in promoting research in the interest of the public good. As a premier research entity, the University of California has the opportunity to set national and international standards for integrity of research. Our aim as concerned members of the University community is to use education, outreach and action to promote opportunities and responsibilities."
The Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions
Information about labor unions representing Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, and other Graduate Student Employees. The Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions (CGEU) is a loose-knit coalition of unions in the USA and Canada that represent graduate students employed as teachers, researchers, and university staff.
National Association of Graduate and Professional Students
"A non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of graduate and professional student life in the US. To this end, NAGPS works to actively promote the interests and welfare of graduate and professional-degree-seeking students in public and private universities.... NAGPS acts as a clearinghouse for information on graduate and professional student groups at all stages of development."
Eurodoc
The council for postgraduate Students and junior researchers in Europe
Leading the Charge: Institutional Postdoctoral Policies
Laure Haak, sciencecareers.org, 16 August 2002. An interesting study showing better conditions for postdocs at institutions with a postdoc office / association than at those without.
Unionization of UC postdocs fails
November, 2006.
Eggheads Unite
By Daniel Duane, New York Times Magazine, May 4, 2003. "Is a teaching assistant an apprentice scholar or an exploited worker? That question is at the center of a heated battle between graduate students and administrators over unionizing."