UMass Researchers Choose UAW
A majority of the 300 postdoctoral researchers working at three University of Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Amherst and Dartmouth have signed cards to join a union to negotiate better wages, health care and working conditions.
A delegation of the workers filed a petition yesterday asking the Massachusetts Division of Labor Relations (DLR) to certify their union, UMass Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/UAW (UMass PRO/UAW), as their representative for collective bargaining.
Says Simona Maccarrone, a postdoctoral researcher from UMass Amherst:
We’ve taken this step so we can protect our rights on the job, and make sure postdocs working on different campuses and in different labs are treated fairly and receive comparable pay and benefits. This will give us the same union rights as other workers and faculty at UMass.
