University representatives refused to enter the meeting room at the first union bargaining meeting of the semester over disputes about how many non-participant observers could be present during the session. Postdoctoral researchers voted to unionize back in May.
Representatives from the University would not engage with members of the Princeton University Postdocs and Scholars-United Auto Workers (PUPS-UAW) union at a scheduled contract negotiation session. University representatives assist in negotiating the Princeton University Postdocs and Scholars United Auto Workers (PUPS-UAW) contract.
Jessica Ng, a postdoc and member of the union, told The Daily Princetonian that PUPS-UAW had planned to invite postdocs and research scholars who were not part of the elected group, a tactic she described as “open bargaining.” She said that union leaders communicated this request with the University several weeks prior, but only got an official response from them the night before the meeting, saying that the University was not comfortable with it.
“The point of having observers is to try to be as transparent as possible,” Judy Kim, another postdoc and union member, told the ‘Prince’.
Kim described that the University representatives refused to enter the room in which the union had scheduled their bargaining meeting, citing discomfort with the observers present. She said that the University representatives and bargaining committee members exchanged messages in a more disjointed fashion.
“One of [the University’s representatives] would come into the room and relay [the representatives’] message, and we would go back and relay our message, but bargaining didn't start,” said Kim. “There wasn't really a substantive negotiation at all [about a contract].”
University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill wrote in a comment to the ‘Prince,’ “Like most legal negotiations, collective bargaining sessions are typically closed sessions between the parties’ representatives (here, the union and university bargaining teams), though members of the bargaining teams may freely discuss the details of the session with the constituents they represent.”
Morrill explained that “In recognition of the high level of interest in negotiating the first collective bargaining agreement involving postdoctoral researchers and associate research scholars, the University is willing to allow a limited number of non-participant observers to attend bargaining sessions, but the parties were not able to reach an agreement on a number of observers prior to the meeting.”
Postdoctoral researchers voted 484–89 in May to unionize with the UAW after roughly six months of organizing. Their seven-person bargaining team, elected over the summer, had wanted to discuss the union’s housing and salary demands at Tuesday’s meeting, the first since unionization.
According to PUPS-UAW’s website, this would include higher, inflation-adjusted wages that “match the high cost of living in the Princeton area”, transparent paperwork “detailing guaranteed benefits” of job appointments, and “greater control…and transparency in the housing selection process.”
During the meeting, PUPS intended to read their “initial bargaining goals,” an outline of their demands signed by 500 postdocs, and had prepared 10 articles for the contract to begin negotiation processes, according to Kim. “But none of that process happened,” she said.
“We did try to assure them that we have asked our observers today to be quiet and be respectful, we promised not to make any recordings, but they were uncomfortable with any of that,” Kim said. She said that about a dozen postdoc observers were present.
Kim said that when the postdocs asked for administration negotiators to come to the table and begin bargain discussions, “the University did not engage.”
“They did not come into the room, and they asked us for very unusual and restrictive limitations on observers.”
Razia Sahi, an observer, said she had previously been involved in bargaining in the University of California system, where “they had Zoom rooms set up so that hundreds of members could attend at once.”
Kim said that union meetings are every two weeks and the next will be Nov. 12.
“We really want to start bargaining. It's been almost six months since we won our election, and this is what a union is for: Us to have a contract that gives us protections and improves benefits and rights” Kim said.
“We all want to have a say, and it's very standard procedure,” Kim said. “This is not something very outlandish that we're asking for, and we're just really hopeful that they’re going to come to the next meeting with a change of heart, so that we can all be part of this process.”
Meghana Veldhuis is an assistant News editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from Bergen County, N.J. and typically covers faculty and graduate students.
Maya Mukherjee is a contributing News writer and assistant Podcast editor for the ‘Prince.’ She is from New York City.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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