Frequently Asked Questions

We are postdoctoral researchers forming a union in order to improve our research and working conditions at Duke University. Our work as postdocs not only drives the research mission at Duke, but also produces diverse scientific knowledge that improves the health of people around the world.

By forming a postdoctoral researcher union, we are building a stronger, democratic voice for researchers at Duke, with more power to negotiate for improvements and to secure our rights and working conditions into a legally-binding contract.

Forming a union with UAW in particular means joining tens of thousands of researchers and other higher education employees who are already part of, or are in the process of joining the UAW, including postdoctoral researchers at Columbia University, Mount Sinai, New York University, the University of California, University of Washington, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts, the National Institute of Health (NIH), Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Weill Cornell Medicine, Rockefeller University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and Harvard. By working together with these and other academic unions across the country, we can also build political power beyond Duke to impact funding, visa, and other policies at the national, state, and city-wide 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 the Duke 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 will also help us have a stronger voice on key policy decisions made outside the University that affect us as researchers, such as federal funding for scientific research and federal rules affecting visa and immigrant issues.  

By joining with unionized academic workers nationwide, we hope to make changes that will create more positive work environments for future postdoctoral researchers and improve career pathways for future scientists in the US and beyond.

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

Under collective bargaining, Duke postdoctoral researchers and scholars would elect representatives to negotiate on equal footing with the Duke 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 and guaranteed, enforceable access to family-friendly benefits like paid leave and childcare subsidies, among other important provisions.

Postdocs at Duke started discussing the idea of forming a union in 2024 in response to a lack of sufficient support from Duke administration on a wide range of workplace issues that particularly affected some of the most vulnerable members of our community. These challenges became particularly urgent in 2025, as the Duke administration responded to threats of federal funding cuts by taking steps to reduce the size of its research and administrative staff and faculty.  Postdocs at Duke circulated a petition requesting that the Duke administration expand bridge funding to protect the university’s research mission and staff, which was signed by over 700 Duke researchers, including faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and research staff.

The UAW represents more than 120,000 academic workers across the United States, including more postdocs and graduate student employees than any other union. In the last ten years alone over 75,000 academic workers around the country have chosen to become part of the UAW, including nearly 15,000 of them from the east coast area.

Read more here about UAW success helping academic workers negotiate concrete improvements to wages, benefits and workplace rights.

The UAW has particular experience with helping to negotiate and enforce strong postdoc contracts. For example, postdocs and associate researchers at Columbia University in NYC voted by 68% to form their union with the UAW and ratified their first contract by 99% with a majority participating. UConn postdocs overwhelmingly approved their first contract in 2020.  Postdocs at the University of Washington voted by 89% percent to form their union with the UAW. Postdocs at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai voted to form their union with the UAW by 90%. 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.  In 2024 and 2025, postdocs at Princeton, Rockefeller University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania voted to unionize and are currently negotiating for a first contract. In 2025, Weill Cornell Medicine Postdocs ratified their first contract by an overwhelming 99.2% supermajority, securing some of the highest salary minimums for postdocs in the United States.

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 June 2023, postdocs and research scientists and engineers at the University of Washington went on an historic 9-day strike, ratifying union contracts by 98.7% and 98.5%, respectively. In December 2023, postdocs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai became the first postdocs at a private institution to go on strike. They ratified their first contract by 98% after 12 days on strike, securing the highest postdoc salary minimums in the country.

In addition to drawing on the UAW’s wide experience bargaining contracts with academic administrations, 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.

Both a strong union and a postdoc organization can play a critical role in improving the lives of Duke postdocs. Duke-sponsored DUPA provides important opportunities for postdocs to participate in numerous social and career development opportunities, as well as advocacy efforts, but it is not a viable alternative to a union. While DUPA can make recommendations to the institution on behalf of postdocs, it cannot engage in collective bargaining. Unions and associations like DUPA often work together at academic institutions where both exist.

Duke postdoctoral researchers make up our union. After DRU-UAW has been certified or recognized by the Duke administration, we will start the process of negotiating a contract with the administration:

• We elect a bargaining committee from among Duke postdocs; Based on surveys we have filled out, the committee will develop initial bargaining goals; we vote to ratify these goals.
• The committee will meet with Duke administration representatives to negotiate in pursuit of our bargaining goals;
• When our committee has negotiated a tentative agreement with the University they feel they can recommend, researchers will vote whether to ratify it as our first contract;
• The bargaining committee will be aided throughout by experienced negotiators and other UAW representatives;
• After the contract is ratified, the membership will elect representatives who help run the Local Union, ensure that Duke does not violate the terms of the contract, and represent members with grievances and other workplace issues.

Postdoctoral researchers make up our union and will democratically prioritize which improvements to pursue in contract negotiations. With a union, researchers will negotiate as equals with the administration for the changes we want to make.

A contract will legally secure those improvements against unilateral changes by the administration. Currently, the administration can change policies and benefits unilaterally, without any obligation to consult those affected.

With a union, we will vote on our contract. If we are unsatisfied with a contract, we can vote against it and go back to the negotiating table to work out a better agreement.

Postdoctoral researchers have negotiated improvements to their salaries, benefits, family-friendly policies, and 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)
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Postdocs (UAW Local 4100)
• University of California Postdocs (UAW Local 4811)
• University of California Academic Researchers (UAW Local 4811)
• University of Washington Postdocs (UAW Local 4121)
• University of Connecticut Postdocs (UAW Local 6950)
• Cornell Weill Medicine (UAW Local 4100)

Membership dues are important because they provide the resources necessary for effective representation.  In the UAW, we do not pay dues until we have gone through the bargaining process and voted democratically to approve our first contract.  No one can be required to become a member of the Union after we have a contract. Once a contract is ratified, each individual postdoc can decide whether or not to become a dues-paying member.

UAW membership dues are currently 1.44% of gross monthly income and can only be increased by membership action (the membership in a few local unions, for example, have voted to increase dues above 1.44% to have more resources). In the UAW, there is a one-time initiation fee, which ranges from $10 to $50 and is determined democratically in local union bylaws approved by members.

Dues are critical for providing us with independent resources that are not controlled by the University: we use them to ensure we have appropriate legal, bargaining, community and staff support to represent all postdoctoral researchers. Dues are a way for us as postdocs to pool our power and resources to enforce our rights under our contract, campaign for the best possible future contracts, and help other academic workers form their own unions, just as we have received resources from dues paid by workers in other academic unions. 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, the Mount Sinai Postdocs went from having one of the lowest minimum salaries for postdocs in NYC to the highest minimums for postdocs in the country in the first year of their contract, an immediate 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 75% since they ratified their first contract in 2010.

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 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.  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 is allocated to the International Union’s General Fund (26%), Strike and Defense Fund (44%), and Community Action Program (CAP) (3%). Duke postdocs would be supported by these funds as described below. Depending on the overall financial health of the Strike and Defense Fund (if its net worth is $500M or greater), an additional allocation of dues called a “rebate” is given back to the Local and International Union. So, in typical months, the portion of dues retained by the local union is roughly 37%.

For some great examples of UAW local unions helping workers defend their rights, see this summary of successful grievance handling at the University of Washington, or these stories about unionized postdocs fighting pregnancy discrimination at the University of California, or how graduate assistants at UConn took on sexual harassment.

The portion of dues allocated to the International Union would support Duke postdoctoral researchers in the following ways:

• Technical experts to help negotiate on equal terms with the Duke admin, including:
• Health insurance experts who can take on the University administration’s consultants in order to pursue the best benefits for the best price;
• Researchers who can help analyze college finances;
• Legal advice where necessary; and
• Experienced negotiators to help achieve our goals, both at the bargaining table and in terms of developing an overall campaign to win a strong contract.
• Support for new organizing campaigns (for example, the resources supporting Duke Researchers United-UAW  come from existing UAW members’ dues).
• Political action: 3 percent of dues go toward the UAW Community Action Program (CAP), 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—that money comes from members’ voluntary contributions to the UAW Voluntary Community Action Program or V-CAP, which is separate from, and in addition to, dues.]

Duke Researchers United-UAW (DRU-UAW) seeks to represent anyone who holds a postdoctoral researcher position at Duke, including Postdoctoral Associates, and Postdoctoral Scholars. If you are a researcher at Duke and have questions about your eligibility or want to sign up, please contact info@dukeresearchersunited.org.

With more than 120,000 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 ensure that the contributions of guest workers are elevated and that the terms and conditions of their employment are improved. Recently the UAW helped lead the fight against Executive Orders issued by former President Trump that targeted international scholars and students.

In October of 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. In July of 2020, thanks to direct action by UAW Academic Workers across the country, in addition to efforts by allies at universities and in government, ICE backed down from its directive to deport international students taking online classes due to COVID-19. In 2017, the UAW International filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case challenging the Trump administration’s travel ban. The UAW also helped lead the fight 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.

UAW academic unions also provide more resources for researchers on visas at the local level. Columbia University postdocs have used their union to fight for international researchers who could not return to the US during the COVID-19 pandemic to be able to work remotely and, more recently, put pressure on the Columbia administration and engaged allies in Congress to support researchers stranded abroad.

During the second Trump administration, UAW has sought to work with international workers to protect their rights.  UAW has set up a legal hotline for international workers, and joined a lawsuit challenging the administration’s increase of H1B visa fees to $100,000 (Global Nurse Force, et al. v. Trump, et al.), which has successfully been blocked in court (California, et al. v. Mullin, et al.).

International postdocs and researchers have the same legal right to join a union as US citizens. International researchers have been instrumental in organizing and running the University of California postdocs union (UAW Local 4811), the Mount Sinai postdoc union (UAW Local 4100), the Columbia Postdoctoral Workers (UAW Local 4100), and Weill Cornell Medicine Postdocs Union (UAW Local 4100). Unionization can result in protections that are especially valuable for international academic employees.

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. Duke could help ensure a timely process by agreeing on a fair and efficient timeframe 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, Mount Sinai, University of Connecticut, University of Washington, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), University of California, and Cornell Weill Medicine negotiated for 16 months, 15 months, 13 months, 13 months, 11 months, 18 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.

We have not seen this happen at other institutions. Because all union decisions will be made by postdoctoral researchers, we will collectively decide what to ask for in bargaining at Duke and, ultimately, vote whether to approve any agreement as a contract. And as a union we will have greater access to Duke financial information that affects us, which will make it possible for us to be well-informed and conscientious as we engage in bargaining.  

Both the researchers and the administration have to agree on a contract and we all share an interest in preserving the quality of research happening at Duke. Collective bargaining simply means we can negotiate on equal footing in order to hold Duke more accountable to do the best it can do.

Once a union is formed, Duke cannot unilaterally alter any terms and conditions of employment—including pay and benefits. Instead, changes to pay and benefits and other terms and conditions of employment are subject to collective bargaining, through which Duke administrators must negotiate in good faith with postdoctoral researchers, and postdoctoral researchers will democratically approve a binding, enforceable contract containing those terms and conditions.

No UAW union for academic workers has negotiated a contract that requires all covered employees to make the same amount. And because we as researchers will make our own decisions about our contract we would likely not negotiate for or vote to approve a contract that requires all postdocs to be paid the same. As an example, we could propose a wage structure like the one that postdocs at the University of California bargained that includes:

1) A minimum salary that exceeds the NIH base wage;

2) Guaranteed annual wage increases;

3) The right of PIs to pay above the scale; and

4) Strong enforcement provisions that enable us to grieve through the union if we don’t receive contractual pay increases.

Postdoctoral researchers will democratically decide how we want to negotiate pay, but no UAW academic worker contract stipulates that all workers must 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 Columbia, Mount Sinai, Cornell Weill Medicine, and the University of California, for example, postdoctoral researchers negotiated pay scales that guarantee minimum salaries but stipulate that the institution may pay more.

Across the country, academic workers in the UAW have been fighting back against the Trump administration’s attempts to slash funding for research and higher education. These unprecedented attacks could have serious and long-lasting negative impacts on US research and provide even more reason for postdocs to unionize. With collective bargaining, we have more power to negotiate for protections against the impact of these attacks on science funding. No matter what the institution’s financial situation, it’s better to have a seat at the table in decisions that affect our working conditions. 

By unionizing with the UAW we have joined with tens of thousands of other higher education workers across the country who have a long history of using collective action to fight back to protect our research and our fellow workers. During the first Trump administration, UAW members mounted a joint campaign to call for increased research funding in light of COVID-19, to support the ability of universities to emerge from the crisis and continue performing leading-edge research. UAW was also a national sponsor of the March for Science in 2017, and successfully fought to turn back the grad tax, which would have subjected graduate students to thousands of dollars in taxes on tuition paid on their behalf. During the second Trump administration, UAW members have led the national fight against research budget cuts by organizing rallies and phonebanks, lobbying Congress and filing lawsuits against grant cancellations.

Currently, the Duke administration determines postdoctoral researcher pay rates and benefits unilaterally, and those rates – as well as projected increases – can be factored into grant proposals to agencies like the NIH. With collective bargaining, we would negotiate as equals with Duke over improvements to our pay rates, which would continue to be factored into grant proposals. Postdoctoral researchers at Columbia University, Mount Sinai, Cornell Weill Medicine, the University of Washington, as well as at the University of California, have used this process to negotiate guaranteed annual increases to their pay rates through collective bargaining.

Because of recent threats to public funding and research grants facing researchers on a national scale, the ability to bargain collectively with Duke over our pay and benefits – including pay that keeps pace with competitive institutions, and the cost of living in the area – is even more important.  Since Trump’s election, thousands of postdoctoral researchers at universities like University of Pennsylvania, John Hopkins University, and others have formed unions to similarly establish a stronger voice given these circumstances.

As a union, researchers will be negotiating with the University administration, not with our PIs and supervisors, because it is the administration’s policies that define our employment conditions. Moreover, researchers will set the bargaining agenda and decide what improvements to prioritize in collective bargaining.

As such, a union contract would only create limitations if postdoctoral researchers and scholars democratically choose to bargain for them. And forming a union would mean that the Duke 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 negotiate every term and condition of employment (from wages to health care to leave to childcare to non-discrimination protections to vacation to appointment letter terms, etc) and instead can focus on their research.

With a union, all union decisions – including the decision about whether or not to strike – will be made democratically by postdoctoral researchers. With a union, postdocs will collectively decide what to ask for in bargaining and whether or not a strike is necessary.

A strike is a very powerful tool for unionized workers, but a strike would only occur if union members decide a strike is necessary. The decision to strike is made collectively; under the UAW Constitution, two-thirds of workers participating in a strike authorization vote must vote yes in order to authorize a strike. 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, postdocs and academic researchers in UAW Local 4811 have taken several majority votes to authorize strikes, in most cases allowing them to reach agreements with their administration without striking. In 2022, 48,000 academic workers at UC, including postdocs and academic researchers, along with student researchers and other student employees, chose to go on strike together to win improvements on pay, benefits, and workplace rights, making historic gains. Postdocs voted to ratify their contract by 89.4%. In June 2023, postdocs and research scientists and engineers at the University of Washington went on a historic 9-day, ratifying union contracts by 98.7% and 98.5%, respectively. In December 2023, postdocs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai became the first postdocs at a private institution to go on strike. They ratified their first contract by 98% after 12 days on strike, securing the highest postdoc salary in the country.