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Research Associates and Postdocs at Penn (RAPUP-UAW) rallied together on Jan. 30 to announce their union formation. Credit: Sadie Scott

Over 100 Penn community members rallied on Thursday to announce that Penn research associates and postdoctoral researchers have reached majority support to unionize. 

The rally, held at the corner of 34th and Walnut streets, called for the formation of the Research Associates and Postdocs United at Penn (RAPUP-UAW) and comes amidst a larger wave of union organizing taking place at Penn. Attendees included Pennsylvania State Rep. Rick Krajewski (D-Philadelphia), members of the graduate student union GETUP-UAW, and community members.

RAPUP, which launched its official campaign to unionize in October after two years of organizing, stated that almost 800 postdoc researchers and research associates had signed authorization cards to form the union.

“We’re here rallying because a majority of postdocs and research associates at Penn have signed their union cards,” a RAPUP representative told The Daily Pennsylvanian.

Postdoctoral researchers, she explained, often “struggle to make ends meet” while lacking protections from “harassment, discrimination, and unfair termination.” RAPUP aims to negotiate for these protections, as well as better wages and benefits, through collective bargaining.

The first speaker, a member of RAPUP’s organizing committee and a postdoc in the Department of Pathobiology, highlighted the significance of the rally.

“Today is about showing Penn that we are strong and ready to fight for a contract that ensures better pay, better benefits, better job security, and better protections for our international workers,” he said.

Speakers at the rally also emphasized the importance of the union amid changes to immigration policy and federal funding instituted by the Trump administration. One speaker discussed the importance of union protections for researchers on work visas, who risk being forced to leave the country if they lose their jobs.

“With our union, we can negotiate termination conditions,” she added, noting concerns about the current Trump administration’s policies on immigration and labor rights.

Andrew Little, a former postdoc and the current president of the Columbia University branch of UAW, echoed these concerns at the rally, citing the Trump administration’s “attack” on federal funding for institutions like the National Institutes of Health.

“Now, with the movement of thousands of unionized researchers across the country, it is critical that we come together and harness our power to fight for a system that provides the security we need to conduct our research for the public good,” Little said.

Krajewski, a 2013 Engineering graduate, emphasized the value that postdocs and research associates bring to Penn.

“You all provide the labor that makes the University of Pennsylvania the world-class institution that it is,” he told the crowd.

In addition, Krajewski highlighted the increased unionization of workers at Penn and stressed the importance of unions at Penn and in Philadelphia at large.

“One out of three workers on this campus will have the protections and the representation of a union, and that is vital,” Krajewski said. “It is vital not just for Penn but for this entire city, because Penn is not only accountable to its workers, it's accountable to the city.”