Under the Radar

"[Slavery] started with seemingly innocent ideas. And then a little court order here and a court order there, and a little more regulation here and a little more regulation there and, before we knew it, America had slavery. It didn't come over in a ship to begin with as an evil slave trade."

—Glenn Beck, during his October 1, 2010 radio program

"The slowdown has reached such a wide range of countries that they're now feeding on one another."

—Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital, on the global economy

10 Percent of U.S. Post-Docs Now Have a Union

Higher education workers scored a rare union victory in August 2010 when University of California (UC) post-doctoral researchers ratified their first contract with the administration. The post-docs' PRO/UAW union was officially recognized in 2008, but the union charged the administration with negotiating in bad faith—over proposed pay scale rates—for nearly the next two years.

Post-docs organized direct action protests at chancellors' offices, refusing to leave until a call had been placed to the UC president; filed unfair labor practice charges with the state; and pressured members of Congress to investigate UC's stalling. After the House Committee on Education and Labor convened an investigation on the sluggish process, the Government Accountability Office initiated an audit of UC's finances to investigate the university's spending of federal research money. Finally, the UC administration entered into productive contract negotiations.

As with graduate student unions, postdoctoral researchers face numerous arguments that seek to disqualify them from unionization. Most revolve around the apprenticeship model of higher education—post-docs are "paying their dues," receiving training, or accessing a "privilege" by working for full professors. In fact, post-docs—who have already earned Ph.D.s—work long hours for low pay, often as little as $10 per hour. They are responsible for a great share of the country's scientific output (particularly in projects funded by the National Institute of Health), but receive few of its rewards. The number of post-docs more than doubled from 1981 to 1997 and has since accelerated, far outpacing the hiring of tenure-track faculty.

Around half of all post-docs come from overseas and have visas particularly suited to their work. Many have kept quiet about workplace concerns so as not to jeopardize their status.

The new five-year contract will improve pay, benefits, time off, and labor protections. The PRO/UAW union, representing sixty-five hundred UC post-docs, is by far the largest of its kind in the United States, accounting for nearly 10 percent of all such researchers nationwide.

Franchise Restaurants Are Impossible to Unionize—or Are They?

In early September, nine Jimmy John's restaurants in Minneapolis, Minnesota experienced something that franchises rarely do: a work stoppage. Walking out to demand better wages, sick days, workers' compensation, and overall better conditions, the Minneapolis workers announced the creation of the Jimmy John's Workers Union (JJWU). Affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World—which still exists in small grouplets across the country—the newly formed union filed for an election with the National Labor Relations Board.

JJWU has not been recognized by the franchise ownership. Franchise management implied that it would soon be making layoffs through its announcement that it would be hiring at all of its restaurant locations. As a result, JJWU supporters picketed outside Jimmy John's in thirty-two states on Labor Day—one of the few real labor actions to take place on the day. On October 22, the union lost a very narrow citywide vote, but it is now appealing.

Franchise restaurant workers have been notoriously difficult to organize for a variety of reasons: high turnover, low concentration of workers at each site, structural roadblocks, and unremitting corporate opposition. In a 1994 trial, McDonald's executives acknowledged that in the early 1970s alone, they defeated some four hundred unionization efforts. It remains to be seen whether the Jimmy John's effort will be a bellwether for further labor actions in this historically difficult sector.