Who we are

The Brown University Postdoc Labor Organization (BPLO) is the Union of Postdoctoral Researchers and Dean’s Faculty Fellows (DFFs) at Brown University. Our Union was built upon the foundational work of Stand Up for Graduate Students (SUGS), which formed in 2014 and fought for rights and protections at Brown University, and formally won its Union as the Graduate Labor Organization (GLO) in 2018.

Through collective bargaining and collective action, we advocate for the needs of a diverse body of researchers and scholars, fight against discrimination in all its forms, and nurture a caring community that supports the personal and professional lives of all postdoc workers.

Our campaign to organize Postdocs began in earnest in the spring of 2023, when we decided to affiliate with our graduate and undergraduate worker siblings on campus in AFT Local 6516. By the end of 2023, we built strong supermajority support for BPLO and demanded Brown voluntarily recognize our union. We are so proud to have won voluntary recognition of our union(!!) in January 2024.

now that we’ve won our union, what’s next?

Over the coming months we will begin to bargain our first contract with Brown University administration.

What does contract bargaining look like? In truth contract bargaining is less complicated than it seems. We have assembled a bargaining committee that is drafting contract proposals based on the needs that postdocs have voiced in our organizing conversations. These proposals will address things like better pay, better benefits, parity for fellows and non-citizens, support for parents, and so much more.

Next, we submit these contract proposals to admin. Our bargaining team will meet with admin at the table and have formal and informal conversations about the proposals. Admin will either accept our proposals or make counter offers, to which we can either agree or propose further counters . And this process goes on and on until we reach a tentative agreement on a complete contract. This tentative agreement goes up to a vote by all BPLO members, and if a strong majority approve, then the contract goes into effect.

Why should I be a part of BPLO?

A Union is an organization of workers who come together to fight for changes in our workplace that we couldn’t win otherwise. When we form a Union, we win the right to negotiate a contract with Brown admin while building an organization that can help us continue improving the quality of life for not just post-docs and researchers, but all workers in the Brown community.

Most importantly, we decide what we negotiate for. Be it better pay, benefits, healthcare, or childcare support; better visa and immigration support for non-citizens; protections against discrimination, harassment, and bullying; or intellectual property rights in our research.

Who can join BPLO?

At this time, our campaign is starting with just Postdocs and Dean’s Faculty Fellows. But we think ALL non-tenure academic workers deserve a union. If you’re a non-tenure worker, reach out to us and let’s talk about how to grow our union!

How are we connected to GLO and AFT?

When our campaign started, we decided it would make the most sense to join the same Union that already exists for academic workers on campus: Local 6516 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). This is the same union that represents Grad workers in GLO and undergrad workers in the CS department (TALO). We all share the same employer, and we are most powerful if we are a part of the same organization.