BUILDING A CALTECH FOR EVERYONE
Better Together
As Postdocs and Graduate Student Workers at Caltech, we drive the research that makes Caltech a world-renowned institution. We are dedicated to and excited by our work at the frontiers of science and engineering. On January 31st, 2024, a majority of us voted over two days to form our union, allowing us to collectively bargain with the Caltech administration for improvements to our working conditions.
As of January 30th, 2025, for the first time in history, Caltech Graduate Student Workers and Postdocs have a ratified contract, negotiated on equal footing with the administration. 86% voted Yes and over 50% of us voting Yes campus-wide! This victory belongs to all of us—everyone who voted, talked to their coworkers, shared their own struggles under current conditions, and supported each other at the We Keep Us Safe rally and the Mass Membership Meeting and demonstrated our power with a strong Strike Authorization Vote.
Our contract makes huge strides in workplace improvement for GSWs and Postdocs, codifying some of the strongest anti-bullying and anti-harassment measures in the industry, unprecedented support for international scholars, and marked improvements in financial compensation. Importantly, these protections have come into being without the need for further escalation, and just as the Trump administration has started taking action against research funding and workers’ rights. This contract contains the strongest protections in academia against the Trump administration.
I was in an improperly planned field class and got valley fever fungus in my lungs due to lack of PPEs. It turned out that we were eligible for workers’ compensation, yet we were told that we were ‘not workers’ by Caltech in the first place, until we figured it out ourselves.
If Caltech were required to inform us about workers’ compensation, like what we won in our health and safety article, I would have saved a lot of time and energy from navigating by myself through the legal processes regarding work-related injuries. I’m also hopeful about the new transparency and accountability measures that guarantee GSW and Postdoc priorities are represented. Our new contract will allow us to protect ourselves and work with the administration as equals when things like these happen again.
As an international worker, I live far from family and lack a social support system. The absolute minimum cost for full-time childcare in the Pasadena area is $2,000 a month. In fact, Caltech’s childcare center charges $2,400 a month for infants. This expense amounts to more than a third of a postdoc’s income and more than half of a graduate student worker’s income. To effectively perform their jobs, parents need more support.
