Postdoctoral researchers at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) overwhelmingly ratified a first contract this week that will provide wage increases throughout the agreement, vacation and sick time, a grievance procedure and job security protections.

Postdoc researchers approved the contract by a 95 percent margin.

The new agreement gives postdoctoral researchers major gains including a 2 percent wage increase upon contract ratification and another in September. There will be a 3 percent increase in September of 2013 and 2014. Eligible postdocs will receive partial reimbursement of child care expenses.

The agreement also provides research workers with the same paid holidays as other University of Massachusetts (Amherst) workers, as well as sick time and maternity leave.

The contract covers 200 members of UAW Local 2322 and gives all the researchers health care coverage, an important addition for nearly half of the researchers who, prior to the contract, had no insurance through the university. 

In addition the contract will provide postdocs with professional development and career services, including the opportunity to gain teaching experience. And, it will help postdoc researchers from other countries by dropping fees for visa processing by the International Program Office, offering protection from loss of pay due to visa processing delays and allow continuation of work authorization during grievances for unfair discharge. 

Postdoctoral researchers perform research that helps drive innovations in science and technology, and brings millions in grants, contracts and licensing revenues to the university. Their work contributes to the school’s highly regarded reputation as a research institution and an engine of economic growth in Massachusetts and throughout the northeast. 

“We formed our union because we thought we deserved better. We contribute a huge amount to the university through our research, and all we wanted was to receive fair salaries and benefits like other UMass employees,” said Scott Schlossberg, a postdoc in the Environmental Conservation Department. “Through our union contract, we have achieved respect for our hard work and will have concrete ways to develop ourselves as professional researchers,” Schlossberg said. 

“Having a union has helped raise the importance of our contribution to the university. Now our contribution is recognized through fair salary increases and access to dental benefits and better health insurance which many of us didn’t have before,” said Biology Department postdoc researcher Sarah Conte. 

Said Dipayan Sarkar, a researcher in the Food Sciences Department, “Many postdocs like myself are international scholars from other countries. Our contract provides groundbreaking protections for international postdocs, including no loss of pay due to visa processing delays and continued work authorization at UMass in cases of unfair discipline,” said Sarkar. 

“It is remarkable that at universities like UMass, people with Ph.Ds who are the backbone of the research that goes on, still have to struggle for fair treatment and better working conditions,” said UAW Region 9A Director Julie Kushner. “This victory for the postdocs shows why collective bargaining rights are important for all workers and for all types of work, whether in a factory or a research university." 

“Congratulations to the UMass postdocs and UAW members for organizing a union for these essential members of the academic scientific workforce, and for negotiating a good first contract,” said Gary Rhoades, a professor at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona, and past general secretary of the American Association of University Professors. “The agreement provides significant improvements in professionalizing the working conditions and terms of employment for postdoctoral researchers. It is good for the postdocs, the university, the state of Massachusetts, and for the condition of academic science nationally,” Rhoades said. 

“The advances the contract provides, have only been made possible through collective bargaining. That underscores the importance of collective bargaining rights for public and private employees, in the public interest,” Rhoades added. 

The contract puts the UMass postdocs in the spotlight with graduate student workers, teaching assistants and researchers throughout the country who are fighting for democracy in the workplace. 

At the University of Minnesota, voting started Monday in an election that will determine whether 4,400 graduate assistants will have union representation. The election follows a two-year union drive on the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth campuses of the university. 

In September 2010, more than 6,500 postdocs at the University of California ratified their first contract. The agreement covers post doctoral researchers at 10 campuses in the University of California system. Those workers represent roughly 10 percent of the postdocs in the United States. 

“There is incredible energy on university campuses all over the country, and you see more and more graduate workers standing up and demanding democracy at their campus work sites,” said UAW President Bob King. “This is an inspiration for everyone who wants respect and dignity at work.” 

The UAW, one of the nation’s most diverse labor unions, represents more than 45,000 workers in higher education, including teaching assistants, research assistants, academic administrators, full-time and adjunct faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and clerical, technical and professional employees.