Penn research associates and postdoctoral researchers have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union on April 24.
Of the 1,500 postdoctoral researchers at Penn, 1,000 signed authorization cards in support of forming Research Associates and Postdocs United, according to the group. The research associates and postdocs are part of a national wave of academic researchers pushing to unionize, as well as a broader increase in union organizing taking place at Penn.
RAPUP will represent Penn’s postdoctoral researchers and research associates in bargaining with the university if a majority vote in favor of unionization. Organizers say they aim to negotiate improvements in wages, benefits, job security, and institutional support — especially for international scholars.
The petition comes shortly after 1,600 postdoc researchers at Johns Hopkins University filed for union recognition. Both efforts are affiliated with the United Auto Workers, which represents more than 120,000 higher education workers nationwide.
Postdoctoral researchers cited a range of concerns driving the union campaigns, including lagging wages compared to peer institutions, inadequate healthcare coverage, and limited workplace protections. International postdocs raised additional concerns about visa support, travel, and reimbursement policies.
Konstantinos Plakas, a postdoctoral fellow in Penn’s Department of Radiology, said that he wants to form a union “to ensure all postdocs have equitable access to benefits.”
“It is shameful that a leading research institution will not provide 401(k), commuter benefits, or maternity leave,” Plakas told The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Bridget Begg, a postdoctoral fellow in Biochemistry at Penn, echoed a similar sentiment.
“We’re people in our thirties who are trying to sort of establish careers and lifestyles and things like that,” Begg said. “And yet, at Penn, we don’t really get the same benefits as most staff, staff researchers.”
Begg explained that postdoc fellows work on appointment letters, which are subject to change at any time.
“There’s just a sort of baseline level of protections that we’d really like to see in a contract,” she said.
On April 23, RAPUP organizers at Penn also delivered a letter to University administrators signed by over 100 postdoctoral researchers and research associates, urging Penn to remain neutral during the unionization process and commit to a “fair and efficient” process for verifying majority support.
“We hope that moving forward, Penn will respect the democratic will and self-determination of university employees and not interfere with our efforts to unionize,” the letter reads.
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