The University of Michigan Postdoctoral Researchers’ Organization, an organization representing over half of the University’s 1500 postdoctoral students, submitted a petition Tuesday afternoon for union recognition outside of the Rackham building.
UM-PRO wrote in an email to The Michigan Daily that this petition is both a bid for recognition as well as for financial protection.
“We are making two demands in our petition,” UM-PRO wrote. “One, that UM-PRO is quickly recognized as a union by the University so that we can begin good faith negotiations towards a standard contract. Two, that the University guarantees financial protections for Postdocs who lose funding due to federal cuts, effective immediately.”
In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Kay Jarvis wrote UM-PRO would undergo the standard process of bargaining once the University is officially contacted by the organization.
“The Board of Regents adopted the Board Resolution Regarding Employer Neutrality, Cooperative Determination and Recognition of Bargaining Units, and Notification of Agreements in June of 2020,” Jarvis wrote. “This resolution sets forth the process for determination and recognition of bargaining units on campus and has been used multiple times since its inception. At this time we have not been contacted by UM-PRO, but we would follow the process laid out in the resolution for any proposal of a bargaining unit.”
In an email to The Daily, UM-PRO organizer Joe Mirabelli, a postdoctoral biomedical engineering research fellow, wrote that they hope to gain protection from federal funding cuts and the potential threats to job security and working conditions they pose.
“University of Michigan Postdocs are the backbone of this university’s research operation,” Mirabelli wrote. “We keep labs running, mentor grad students, and perform cutting-edge research … But with Trump in office, all of that is under threat, and the only way we can keep our research secure and our colleagues safe is to come together. We’re looking forward to recognition from the University so that we can negotiate for increased job security, better pay and working conditions, and to help Michigan live up to its values as a public university.”
Summer News Editors Alyssa Tisch and Claudia Minetti can be reached at tischaa@umich.edu and cminetti@umich.edu.
