Frequently Asked Questions

Our union, formed in 2024 is the first labor union, representing over two thousand graduate student workers and postdoctoral scholars, at Caltech. Collectively, we make decisions and work to improve our working conditions and terms of employment. Through mass action we build power to enact these improvements.

In March of 2024, a majority of Graduate Student Workers and Postdocs voted to authorize a union on our campus. Through historic margins of 76.5% of GSW voters and 82.8% of postdoc voters, we won a union despite Caltech’s refusal to recognize us. During the year-long contract campaign that followed we collectively bargained for better protections, free speech rights, support for international scholars and higher wages.

Collective bargaining is a process, protected by federal law, that equalizes the power relationship between employees and their employer. Without collective bargaining, Caltech has unilateral power to change our working conditions. For example, before winning the union election in 2024, Caltech administration decided whether to provide academic workers with annual raises or not. Caltech administration also had the power to decide whether to take academic worker’s reports of discrimination or sexual harassment seriously, which it often did not as seen from stories collected from every division across campus. As a result of our collective bargaining process, all GSWs and postdocs are guaranteed the rights they deserve.

In short, your contract lays out major improvements to working conditions for all in-unit GSWs and Postdocs at Caltech. This includes stronger provisions for workplace and field-site safety, strict timelines for grievance resolution, and more tangible support for international workers, among many other things. Read your full contract here!

At Caltech, all GSWs are represented by our Collective Bargaining Agreement regardless of fellowship status. Postdocs with external funding who receive a W-2 from another institution (i.e. HHMI-funded Postdocs) are excluded from the bargaining unit. 

Becoming a member is a vote for a better Caltech and better working conditions. When a majority of GSWs and Postdocs are members, it signals to the administration that we, as a unit, are broadly engaged in democratic processes like elections and meetings, and are committed to building up our union as a democratic structure on campus. Every action we take, every grievance we file in support of individuals and groups on campus is amplified with a strong membership. Our actions and decisions will have a democratic mandate – building our collective strength.

Members, and only members, have a voice in shaping our union’s priorities through electing and running for union leadership and participating in union committees.They contribute dues amounting to 1.44% of gross pay, with a one-time $10 initiation fee (set by democratic vote of UAW International).

UAW 2478 is an “agency shop”, meaning that all in-unit GSWs and Postdocs contribute 1.17% of our salary to cover representational fees that are necessary to enforce the rights we’ve won in our contract. This includes advising GSWs and Postdocs through the grievance process, paying for mediators and arbitrators, and supporting future contract negotiations. Union members democratically decide how dues are spent.

By becoming a member, you choose to raise your contribution by 0.27% (to 1.44%) of your salary to support other important functions of your union. This slight increase helps our broader union organize together to counter Trump-era reforms through actions like our Unite for Science town hall with Representatives Judy Chu and George Whitesides and other, similar town halls led by UAW locals across the US. Agency fees do not support any of the costs associated with the important political activities of the union.

Almost half of this 0.27% goes into the UAW International Strike and Defense Fund to support workers experiencing loss of pay while on strike. When the strike fund is over $500 million, a portion of dues normally allocated to the strike and defense fund may be returned to the local union.

The contract and its enforcement applies to all Postdocs and GSWs in the bargaining unit regardless of union membership. Postdocs and GSWs pay either dues or agency fees, not both.

Dues and agency fees are automatically deducted from your monthly paycheck. You do not need to do anything more after signing up to be a member.

If you’re not sure you want to sign up to be a member right now, that’s OK. In our contract every Postdoc and GSW helps pay for our union, so make sure to fill out your agency fee notice by checking “I decline membership in United Auto Workers Local 2478”.

Article 37 of our contract requires all covered GSWs and PDS to join the Union and pay monthly dues, or, if not joining the Union, to pay a monthly agency fee. Dues are 1.44% of gross monthly income, and agency fees are currently 1.17% of gross monthly income. Dues and agency fees may be paid by authorizing Caltech to deduct them directly from your pay each month, or by paying them directly to our Union each month. 

Information about your rights under the Supreme Court ruling Beck v. CWA is available at https://uaw.org/union-security-agreements/. If you have a sincerely held religious belief that you believe conflicts with the payment of union dues or agency fees, please write to the Secretary Treasurer of the International Union, UAW at 8000 East Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, MI 48214. Contact a 2478 steward for help with this process.

International workers have the same free speech rights as domestic workers. It is against the law for any worker in the United States, international or domestic, to face legal repercussions for exercising free speech. While Trump has attempted to circumvent immigrants’ right to free speech in a few cases, previous attempts to do so have never held up in court.

Furthermore, all GSWs and Postdocs won, as part of our union contract, a commitment to Freedom of Speech and Expression per Caltech policy, strong protections for union actions, organizing, and events in accordance with the National Labor Relations Act, and provisions in the California Labor Code, Sections 1101-1104 on political speech and activity.

Every worker in the US, regardless of immigration status, has the same legal right to join and participate in a union. See this informational page from the U.S. State Department for more information. No academic union members have ever reported any complications arising from their immigration status and being part of a union.

In fact, international workers have been active organizers in UAW 2478 and other UAW academic unions. Through our first union contract, international workers have negotiated additional rights and protections we otherwise would not have, including protections against discrimination of any kind and unjust discipline that could impact visa status or active enrollment/appointment.

Regardless of your visa, residency, or family status, once in the US you have the same due process rights as a domestic scholar, which means you cannot be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the chance to defend yourself in fair legal proceedings. Additionally, you have the right to a lawyer to assist you and the right to remain silent if questioned by law enforcement.

Our union has set up a hotline to quickly refer members facing an immigration emergency to legal resources. In the event that you are experiencing an unexpected change in immigration status or any other immigration-related emergency, please call this number: 888-416-2110. You will be referred to an immigration attorney who has agreed to assist UAW academic workers and with whom you can have a legally privileged conversation about details of your situation. For any issues in the workplace, reach out to organize@cgpu.org and a fellow union member will get in touch.

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