ERU-UAW Open Letter to the Dean
March 20, 2026
To Dean Yaron Tomer,
We, the undersigned postdoctoral researchers of Albert Einstein College of Medicine, write to urge the Einstein administration to reach a fair union contract without further delay.
We voted by an overwhelming 82% to unionize in May 2024 to address issues that undermine our ability to do world-class research. Since then, we’ve fought against attacks on science funding and international scholars. We have organized mass actions, met with legislators, and shared our stories to advocate against proposed cuts to federal funding. Additionally, we participated in lawsuits as unionized researchers, one of which reversed the suspension of millions of dollars in federal grants, and campaigned to increase funding for biomedical research at the state level, which led Governor Hochul to propose 65 million dollars of new state investment in research.
But as we’ve fought to protect research, the Einstein administration has been fighting to deny us basic rights and protections that are increasingly standard at peer institutions. After nearly a year and a half of bargaining, Einstein has failed to commit to stable and predictable appointments, strong and enforceable protections against discrimination, harassment, and bullying, a fair grievance and arbitration procedure, provisions for effective union representation, strong and enforceable rights for international postdocs, and a safe and healthy workspace with all necessary materials. As institutions across NYC commit to such reasonable protections and improvements, Einstein is falling behind.
Over 80% of us are international scholars who have made a major commitment by coming to Einstein — often uprooting our lives and incurring significant expenses, while navigating the complexities of the immigration process. But Einstein has refused to reciprocate our commitment by agreeing to guarantee the terms of our appointments and provide longer minimum appointment lengths. Sexual harassment and bullying are rampant in academia, but Einstein’s proposals have consistently fallen far short of standards at other institutions. Einstein’s attempts to exclude protections against discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, as well as rights related to international postdocs and intellectual property, from an enforceable, timely, and neutral grievance and arbitration procedure are unacceptable.
With a fair contract, we can collaboratively devote more resources to advocating for research, instead of fighting for basic rights within our own institution. We therefore urge the Einstein administration to avoid further disruption by reaching a fair agreement that:
- Makes Einstein more equitable and inclusive by providing stronger and enforceable protections against discrimination and harassment, including bullying and abusive conduct;
- Guarantees stable appointments that will allow researchers to work productively without fear of their workplace or of losing their jobs;
- Makes Einstein more competitive by matching or exceeding other basic rights and protections that are increasingly standard for unionized postdocs in New York City; and
- Ensures immediate access to a timely, neutral, and enforceable grievance and arbitration procedure for enforcing all articles in our contract.
Signed,
Shadi Abdelaal
Asmaa Abdullah
Anna Adam-Artigues
Mohamed Ahmed
Mohd Murshad Ahmed
Olusiji Akinrinmade
Hisham Al Rubaye
Amanat Ali
Susmitha Aliyathe
Sarah Aminov
Jianhong An
Slawomir Andrzejewski
Mirjam Arnold
Prajakta Badve
Denis Barbusse
Giulia Barotti
Natalia Barykina
Pratitusti Basu
Monica Batalha
Muzaffer Bhat
Flora Bohner
Chloe Brittenham
Joyeeta Chakraborty
Soumya Chatterjee
Kiana Chen
Yuna Choi
Anastasia Aristoteleia Chondronikola
Konika Choudhury
Marcelo Coutinho De Miranda
Ronald Cutler
Lucas Dada
Taiane De Souza
Veena Devi
Carihann Dominicci-Cotto
Jiaxin Dong
Kheerthana Duraivelan
Priscilla Duran Luciano
Noha Elgendy
Muhammed Amir Essibayi
Sara Fielder
Jordan Fox
Mahesh Gangannapalle
Leandro Garcia
Richard Garcia Betancourt
Marta Garcia-Juan
Keyvan Ghadimi
Madeeha Ghazi
Shrinwanti Ghosh
Gabriele Giovanardi
Gyeongyun Go
Sakshi Goel
Juliana Gomes
Ernesto Griego Melo
Juliane Grimm
Tarang Guar
Eldon Hard
Li He
Kimberly Hemmerling
Cristian Hernandez
Erqiang Hu
Shuaibo Huang
Chengyong Jia
Archana Joon
Swarnaki Kar
Saumen Karan
Divya Kenchappa
Kaustav Khatua
Sree Karani Kondapuram
Bartosz Kula
Vinay Kumar
Viney Kumar
Abhishek Kumar
Anupama Kumari
Sangbhin Lee
Loïs Lequesne
Yuxiang Li
Xiangshang Li
Shuting Li
Zhuqing Liang
Stefano Liberi
Maira Lima
Hung Lo
Giriraj Lokhande
Joanna Luo
Wenjie Luo
Heng Ma
Aakash Mahant
Deepti Maheshwari
Dina Mahmoud
Thuy Linh Mai
Kyrylo Manoilov
Christopher Martinez Aguirre
Aleksandar Mihnev
Fnu Mimansa
Amit Mishra
Mahshid Mohammadi
Emiko Nagai
Shashank Nambiar
Siddharth Nayak
Quan Nguyen
Trieu Nguyen
Anastasia Nizhnik
Marcos Oliveira
Ayodeji Oteyola
Deniz Gulfem Ozturk Kalafat
Sandra Pagano
Micaela Parra
Nuzhat Parveen
Roma Patel
Erika Pereira Zambalde
Fnu Radheshyam
Anthony Ramnauth
Ligia Ramos dos Santos
Mohammad Rashid
Carolina Rodriguez
Irene Roy
Mehrnaz Safaee Talkhoncheh
Ankita Saha
Samson Salile
Joaquin Sandoval Canton
Cindy Santiago Castaneda
Olaya Santiago Fernandez
Marta Santos Bravo
Lornella Seeneevassen
Mariko Segawa
Deisy Segura-Villalobos
Alice Servonnet
Shikhar Sharma
Abhipsa Shatarupa
Anil Shelke
Ankita Shrivastava
Anjana Soorajkumar
Hannah Stern
Geoffrey Terral
Bethany Terry
Zar Chi Thent
Gregory Theophall
Salman Usmani
Yellamandayya Vadlamudi
Theo Vanneau
Harikrishnan Venugopal
Dhanya Vettiatil
Andrew Wagner
Yi Wang
Ping Wu
Daozheng Yang
Jihua Yang
Shiang-Jie Yang
Eun Jin Yoo
Federica Zanotti
Dongming Zhang
Peng Zhang
Qichao Zhang
Ranxin Zhang
Yanbo Zhang
Maggie Zheng