Last week, after an 18-month contract campaign which included a resounding strike authorization vote and a strike deadline, WCMPU-UAW – the postdoc union at Weill Cornell – voted by an overwhelming 99% to ratify their Tentative Agreement as their first union contract with the Weill Cornell administration. This contract provides fundamental rights and protections like intellectual property rights, enforceable health and safety policies, a strong grievance and arbitration procedure, thorough protections against bullying, discrimination, and harassment, and many many others. It also provides a substantial improvement to living and working conditions through economic benefits, including:
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The longest fully paid and guaranteed parental leave for postdocs in the city: 12 weeks
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A 22% increase to the minimum compensation, from $61,008 to $74,692 (with guaranteed increases in July of each year)
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A sliding compensation scale with experience (for example, 1 year of experience translates to a minimum of $79,192 per year)
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Rights to request specific visas based on the needs of a postdoc with $1,500 reimbursement for costs and fees
This contract campaign was prolonged for several months by Weill Cornell’s insistence on a contract-invalidating “force majeure” article and other provisions aimed at weakening union protections after Trump took office. But ultimately WCM postdocs stood strong against this provision and prevailed, and Weill Cornell withdrew their force majeure proposal and backed off from their other aggressive anti-worker proposals.
Aside from sharing in the excitement at this victory just across the street, members of UPROR also benefit directly from this win. The protections in this contract show that Rockefeller can agree to provide basic rights and protections that match or exceed the standards set by Weill Cornell’s union — a peer institute only a few blocks away, bargaining at the same time under similar political conditions. We hope this successful negotiation by our colleagues at WCM will help the Rockefeller administration understand the importance of reaching a strong contract with the greatest possible urgency, so that soon we will be the ones celebrating.
In solidarity,
Stephen Thornquist
On behalf of the UPROR-UAW Bargaining and Organizing Committees