Columbia postdoctoral researchers vote to unionize

NEW YORK – Some 2,000 postdoctoral researchers and associate research scientists at Columbia University have voted for representation by the United Auto Workers.

The union announced the vote by the postdocs Thursday and urged the Ivy League University “to move swiftly toward bargaining.”

The move comes months after the university said it would not bargain with the graduate students who voted for union representation in 2016.

Columbia administrators have argued that graduate teaching and research assistants are primarily students, not workers. School representatives did not return emails seeking comment.

Postdocs generally have earned a doctoral degree and are engaged in research or further training in hopes of pursuing an academic career.

The UAW says Columbia postdocs are performing world-class research in areas including Alzheimer’s disease, AIDS and climate change.