Click here to sign the new WCMPU-UAW Membership Card!
We won our historic first contract two weeks ago, including immediate 22% increases to first year minimum salaries—among the highest base pay for postdocs across the country—twelve weeks of fully paid parental leave, enforceable protections against layoffs and increased job security, support with visa and emergency costs, including for childcare and housing, and protected time for visa renewal, new rights for international workers, protections against harassment, discrimination, and bullying, and much more. These gains would not have been possible without years of strong majority support and collective effort of postdocs across WCM.
Our contract has been ratified by an overwhelming 99.2% and is currently in effect. Now, it is critical that all postdocs sign the NEW WCMPU-UAW Membership Card. Continued majority support for our union gives us the power to enforce the rights in our new contract and will allow us to continue fighting for more improvements. Becoming a member will also allow you to participate in meetings, elections, and votes at both the unit-level (WCMPU) and as part of our local union chapter (UAW Local 4100) alongside Columbia and Mount Sinai postdocs.
Under our new contract, all Postdoctoral Associates, Fellows, and Visiting Fellows must decide, by Sunday, December 7, 2025, between signing up as a Union member and contributing membership dues, or declining membership and paying “fair share” fees. Both membership dues and fair share fees are 1.44% of gross pay with a $10 initiation or reinstatement fee, and cover the cost of representation for everyone in our bargaining unit. Non-member fair share fee-payers have the right to pay only the part of fees used directly for representation. You can read more about this here.
Choosing between these two options is a requirement to remain employed as a Postdoctoral Associate, Fellow, or Visiting Fellow at Weill Cornell Medicine. Even if you recently signed an authorization card or have done so in the past, you must sign this new card to become a member and fulfill this obligation.
Every postdoc who signs up to become a member strengthens our collective power to protect our rights, secure better working conditions, and shape the future of the broader academic community. Please take a moment to sign up as a member now!
In solidarity,
Christina Signoretti, Postdoctoral Associate in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
On behalf of the WCMPU-UAW Organizing Committee