We Are USC Researchers and Fellows United

As USC postdoctoral scholars, we are coming together to bargain collectively with the University of Southern California and build our political voice as researchers whose work sustains this institution.

Postdocs make essential contributions to the world-class research and teaching conducted at USC, but many of us still struggle to pay high housing and other costs in Los Angeles, lack secure rights in the workplace, and face increasing uncertainty about our futures given the precarious nature of research funding and unstable regulation of visas and work authorization in recent years.

We join a growing national movement of researchers and other academics forming unions with the UAW to improve our lives and our work. UAW postdocs and researchers across the country have made a difference advocating for science research funding, fair visa and immigration policies, and better working conditions in all academic institutions.

We have already seen the power of organized researchers at major institutions to dramatically improve their working conditions through unionization with United Auto Workers, including right here in Los Angeles where researchers at the University of California formed the first union for postdocs in the United States, UAW Local 5810. By building on their experience we can continue to raise standards for researcher working conditions across the city.

Hear from some colleagues about why they support forming a union for postdocs at USC.