After 16 months of negotiations, the Brown Postdoc Labor Organization ratified its first contract with the University on Wednesday, receiving 98% of voting member support.
The contract stipulates a raise of at least 3.25% for all postdocs, a $3,000 onboarding stipend for postdoctoral researchers arriving after the contract ratification, an additional 14 days of total paid time off and opportunities for reimbursement in the process of obtaining or renewing visas. The contract will be in effect until June 30, 2029.
“This agreement was the result of productive negotiations between the University and BPLO,” Provost Francis Doyle wrote in a Thursday announcement. “We appreciate the BPLO leaders and members for their commitment to reaching a comprehensive agreement that provides clarity, stability and support for all members in the collective bargaining unit.”
Negotiations began in May of 2024, four months after Brown’s postdocs won voluntary union recognition from the University. At the bargaining table, BPLO made concessions on key issues like childcare subsidies, health care benefits and their initial goals for salary increases, according to BPLO Bargaining Chair Caroline Keroack, a postdoctoral research associate.
“Our main priority was to get financial support for international postdocs and to have the University establish a fund to reimburse costs related to visa applications and visa renewals,” Keroack said. “If they were willing to do that, we were willing to concede on several other items.”
“I think there was a genuine desire on both sides of the table to have something done, particularly in employment and higher education, where there are real threats,” said Michael Ziegler GS, director of RIFT-AFT Local 6516, which encompasses BPLO.
The union also secured salary raises for postdocs, which places their salaries above National Institutes of Health recommended minimums that the University previously agreed to in a June 2024 deal. In addition to the immediate 3.25% raise, postdocs will also receive an annual 2.75% raise beginning July 1, 2026 and continuing through the duration of the contract.
A federal mediator joined negotiations in August, which made “things move along quickly because she really helped facilitate getting things passed back and forth in a timely fashion,” Keroack said.
Despite the concessions on childcare subsidies, Keroack said that the union plans to push for more support for postdocs with children in the future.
“We found it really disappointing that the University was completely unwilling to support postdoc parents,” she said. “I think that a really good emphasis for organizing in the future is focusing on getting benefits for parents.”
In an email to The Herald, University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote that “one of many significant considerations” for Brown’s bargaining team was “equity” across contracts between other groups of University employees.
“During any contract negotiation — especially with a bargaining unit as complex as postdocs, which encompasses employees with a range of responsibilities, titles and funding sources — a wide variety of topics are discussed, debated and ultimately settled on,” Clark wrote.
The contract also includes a $40,000 annual Emergency Support Fund, which is “intended for those who have exhausted all other financial resources, including available loans and Brown’s Employee Assistance Program,” according to the agreement.
“We would really encourage postdoc parents to apply for that if they’re in dire straits, because you never know what they will accept as an emergency, and you could get some financial assistance,” Keroack said.
Keroack noted that the current political climate may have influenced the negotiation process and affected the final compensation and benefits deal.
“We all understand what the University has gone through in terms of government funding,” Keroack said. In April, amid negotiations with the BPLO, the Trump administration froze $510 million of the University’s federal funding. After Brown struck a deal with the White House, its funding was restored.
“Hopefully in the future, it will be a little easier to bargain over some of these financial things,” Keroack added.
Emily Feil is a senior staff writer covering staff and student labor. She is a freshman from Long Beach, NY and plans to study economics and English. In her free time, she can be found watching bad TV and reading good books.
