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On Friday, December 19th, we held our 20th bargaining session with the University. This was our final bargaining session of 2025.
December 19th session updates
We reached a Tentative Agreement with the University on our Employment Records article, which ensures a fair process for providing Unit Members with access to and a copy of the information contained in our own employment records, as well as a method for Unit Members to address and resolve issues with the information in those records since some issues could impact future career opportunities and prospects if they are left unaddressed.
The University also provided counterproposals on Professional Development and Health and Safety. The discussion in Professional Development has centered on ensuring that Unit Members have paid work time and funding for activities like developing management skills as a PI or attending grant-writing workshops. We provided our own counterproposal and are confident we can make quick progress toward reaching a complete agreement on this article once the University engages with our demand for financial support for these activities. The Health and Safety proposal showed substantial movement after our consultation with Amy Wilkerson, the University’s Associate Vice President of Research Support. However, several critical disagreements still remain, particularly regarding the standards the University must uphold for health and safety. At present, the University is reluctant to commit to protections beyond those mandated by the law or in University policy.
We countered on six articles as well: Union Rights and Access, Union Security, Grievance and Arbitration, Appointments and Reappointments, Discipline and Dismissal, and International Researcher Rights. Our discussions at the table centered on which compromises we may be willing to consider to reach agreements on these core articles, while acknowledging that our current proposals already reflect the core priorities of Unit Members.
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In Appointments and Reappointments, we signaled that we could consider one-year initial appointment lengths in exchange for job security during the entire length of our initial appointment and any reappointments, including that no Unit Member can be laid off and adequate (i.e., six months) notice of non-renewed appointments, which is the status quo.
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In Discipline and Dismissal, we continue to fight for strong protections against the termination of a Unit Member’s appointment for any reason other than for just cause, emphasizing that the University cannot use loss of funding as a route to fire Unit Members. We are also insisting that Unit Members should be informed of their protected right to representation by the Union during any investigatory and/or disciplinary process.
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In Grievance and Arbitration, we held strong that we will not sign away any rights to legal recourse that Unit Members and the Union currently have, allowing us to pursue dispute resolution of certain complaints outside the grievance and arbitration procedure if and when we consider it appropriate.
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In International Researcher Rights, we discussed why international researchers might have a strong preference or need to request a specific visa, rejecting the University’s blanket offer of a J-1 visa. We also continued to demand financial support from the University for International Unit Members, including that the University reimburse fees and expenses associated with initial visa applications and renewals, and that the University use best efforts to provide advice and assistance to Unit Members with respect to their immigration status.
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In Union Rights and Access, we discussed the frequency with which the University will provide Union representatives with the information we need to fulfill our legal obligation to fairly represent all Unit Members, as well as the important information that will be provided in those periodic transmissions. We also discussed how Union representatives can access the University campus to meet with Unit Members and administer the contract. Lastly, we ended the discussion getting closer to reaching an agreement on the appropriate locations that the Union may use to communicate with our membership.
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In Union Security, we reasserted that all questions about the Union should be directed to the Union to protect both the University and our membership from inaccurate communications.
Two conspicuous absences from this list are responses from the University to our proposals for Intellectual Property (IP) and Prohibition Against Discrimination and Harassment, for which we’ve been waiting for nearly 5 and 7 months, respectively. We last countered IP in September, and the University has never responded to our proposal on discrimination and harassment. They are key components of any postdoc contract, and Rockefeller must provide us with substantive counterproposals that meet and exceed the standards set on these subjects by the postdoc contracts at Weill Cornell and Mount Sinai.
Looking to 2026
The first phase of our bargaining has been focused on non-economic rights and protections. With your participation, we made significant progress in 2025, including continued organizing, an open letter to the University’s President, and your participation as observers during bargaining. When we reach agreement on these non-economic articles, we will begin negotiating over economic articles such as compensation, childcare, leaves of absence, insurance benefits, housing, retirement, visa support, and more. But before we can do that, we need your support to demand a resolution to our non-economic articles first. The most important factor in our success in bargaining a strong contract is the participation of the entire union membership. Now more than ever, observing a session, joining an action, and helping us keep the pressure on will keep our hard-earned momentum. Our next in-person session is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, January 14, 2026, from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM ET. Click here to RSVP if you’d like to attend this or a future session and see the process firsthand!
You can access the full text of these proposals using our online bargaining tracker.
Have questions or feedback? Don’t hesitate to reply to this email — your input strengthens our collective power.
And, of course, Happy New Year!
In solidarity, we are grateful for all your support this past year, and for the upcoming year,
Stephen Thornquist and Joanna Krzyśpiak
On behalf of the UPROR-UAW Bargaining Committee
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UPROR-UAW Proposals:
Appointment Security: Appointments and Reappointments
International Researcher Rights
University Proposals:
Appendix: Union Grievant Grievance Form
Tentative Agreement: