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On Wednesday, December 3rd, and Wednesday, December 17th, we had our 31st and 32nd bargaining sessions with the Einstein administration.
Before the 31st session began, more than 50 postdocs showed up in force, gathering outside the building for a rally to demonstrate that our community remains united and committed to fighting for the strong contract we deserve. The energy was powerful, and the message was clear: after 15 months of bargaining, we will not accept Einstein’s continued delays and refusal to meet industry standards. The rally made clear that postdocs at Einstein are becoming increasingly engaged in our fight for a fair contract.
These bargaining sessions continued to show why postdoc participation is so important. Einstein’s proposals continued to fall short of the workplace protections and benefits that have become standard at peer institutions like Mount Sinai and Weill Cornell Medicine.
At these two bargaining sessions, we discussed a number of articles:
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Employment Records – During the session on the 17th, we reached a Tentative Agreement on Employment Records, granting postdocs the right to examine and copy their records and to have any factually incorrect or inappropriate material corrected or removed from their employment records.
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Appointment Security: Appointments and Reappointments – We reached agreement on most of the information that will be provided to postdocs before the start of their appointments and reappointments, as well as on providing postdocs who have a fellowship award with a minimum appointment length equivalent to the length of the award. However, Einstein continued to refuse to provide two-year minimum initial appointment lengths, to note in the appointment letter whether the appointment is renewable and the conditions for the renewal, to provide adequate advance notice of non-renewal, and to guarantee the terms and conditions of an appointment for the duration specified in the appointment letter.
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Discipline and Dismissal – After months of discussion, Einstein made slight movement toward agreement, such as maintaining its current practice of holding progress meetings after a notice of termination is issued, and ensuring postdocs have the right to Union representation during any investigatory and/or disciplinary process.
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Intellectual Property – Einstein’s proposal still fails to adequately protect postdocs’ rights to our own research and creative work.
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International Postdoctoral Fellow Rights – Einstein finally committed to providing postdocs with adequate support in a timely manner when they are navigating the immigration process, including the applicable regulations and laws, and travel in and out of the U.S. Disappointingly, Einstein continued to resist providing the comprehensive visa support and protections that international postdocs need.
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Prohibition Against Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation – Einstein’s counter remains weak on protections against bullying, mistreatment, and abusive conduct. However, in an effort to get closer to agreement on this important subject for postdocs, we accepted some of Einstein’s proposed language, while maintaining our demand for enforceable standards and immediate supportive measures for postdocs who experience discrimination, harassment, and/or retaliation.
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Research Integrity – Einstein proposed language that does not adequately protect postdocs in cases of research misconduct or ethical violations, including when they file a complaint about such issues. We responded by making it clear to Einstein that we deserve protections in cases of research misconduct that match those other unionized postdocs in New York have won in their contracts.
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Workload – Einstein’s proposal accepted some of our language, allowing part-time appointments for postdocs under exceptional circumstances, such as reasons of health or family responsibilities. However, Einstein has yet to agree to basic protections against unreasonable workloads, which is central to our demand.
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Memorandum of Agreement: Einstein’s Postdoctoral Fellow Mistreatment Policy – Einstein’s proposal was worse than the current status quo, with inadequate de-identified summary information provided to postdocs annually about mistreatment reports filed by postdocs and the actions taken by Einstein, and no guarantee that Einstein will report this information to postdocs in a timely manner. We are not accepting it.
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Memoranda of Agreement regarding Einstein’s Einstein-Associated Start-Up Companies and Related Conflicts of Interest Policy and other status quo Einstein policies – We reached a couple of Memoranda of Agreement on changes Einstein proposed in August to several other status quo policies.
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Professional Development and Union Rights and Access – During the last session, Einstein also presented counter-proposals on the Professional Development and Union Rights and Access articles, after a 5- and 3-month delayed response, respectively. For Professional Development, Einstein made some movement toward agreement by committing to maintain a $50,000 professional development travel fund each year for postdocs to use for subsidized travel and registration for conferences and meetings, as well as by recognizing the importance of supporting postdocs who seek teaching experience by offering them teaching opportunities where possible and ensuring postdocs are permitted to teach at other institutions during their workweek. With that said, Einstein continued to oppose other professional development provisions that support our career progression as researchers and are standard at other institutions, like Mount Sinai. For Union Rights and Access, Einstein continued to deny postdocs and other Union representatives the access we need to ensure all postdocs are informed about the Union and are fairly represented.
With growing participation by postdocs in our campaign, we were able to make more progress over the past few sessions, including another signed Tentative Agreement. But Einstein has still only reached agreement with us on 6 of about 25 total non-economic articles after 15 months and 32 bargaining sessions.
Einstein continues to bargain slowly and prevent progress on fundamental issues — international postdoc rights, enforceable protections against discrimination, harassment, and mistreatment, job security protections, the right to reasonable workloads and intellectual property, and the access we need to keep each other informed and fairly represented, among many others. These are not radical demands; they are basic workplace protections that already exist at peer institutions across the city. Other institutions that started bargaining around the same time as ERU-UAW have negotiated at a faster pace, while Einstein is falling behind.
The rally on December 3rd proved that we have the collective power to urge the Einstein administration to reach a fair contract, while the bargaining sessions made clear the need to call more strongly on Einstein to avoid delays.
Our next in-person session is scheduled for Monday, January 12, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM ET. Click here to RSVP if you’d like to attend this or a future session and see the process firsthand! Your presence matters — observers make a real difference at the table.
We wish everyone a happy holiday season and all the best in the New Year. Thank you for your continued solidarity and support, and as always, we encourage you to reach out with any questions, concerns, or feedback by simply replying to this email.
Silvia C Hernandez, Medicine – Cardiology
ERU-UAW Bargaining Committee