Last Friday, Congressional Representatives Judy Chu and George Whitesides flew back from Washington after a round of midnight voting. They met with over 300 Caltech and JPL researchers at a town hall organized by CGPU (UAW 2478) and workers at JPL. Both Representatives spoke on their commitment to fight for science funding and to protect international workers and updated us on how Congress is rejecting the severe cuts to science funding proposed by the Trump admin. We heard testimonies from Caltech and JPL researchers on the critical role of their research in health, safety, and US leadership.
Representative Chu, who represents Pasadena and supported us throughout our contract campaign, said she was honored to represent Caltech and JPL researchers and expressed distress at the attacks on science by the Trump admin. Representative Whitesides echoed Chu’s support and summarized the ongoing budget negotiations in Congress. Congress has rejected the severe cuts proposed by the Trump administration, but significant cuts remain in current proposals. Both Representatives made a commitment to fight for science funding.
The town hall also featured Caltech and JPL researchers who shared stories on the impact of their work and the importance of science funding. Speakers stressed the importance of their research to climate monitoring, infectious diseases, and natural disasters, as well as the ability to train the next generation of sciences and maintain US leadership at NASA and across several fields of research. Speakers also spoke on the need to protect international workers and immigrants, programs to support working families, and the impact of DEI programs on their own successes. These stories will be shared with other members of Congress.
Both the Representatives’ remarks and our fellow researchers’ stories highlight the importance of standing together to fight for science, workers, and a better political future. Our union provides a powerful collective voice in this fight, and everything we do is the work of graduate student workers and postdocs. As Judy Chu said: “Together we are stronger, together we will fight back.”
To build on the success of this town hall, we encourage GSWs and postdocs to get involved with our Citizenship and Legislative Committee! Email organize@cgpu.org or come to our next meeting, Wednesday July 30th at 3:00pm, to find out how. Only through strength in numbers could we get two members of Congress to fly out mere hours after a late night vote to listen to our needs as researchers. Building and exercising our collective power is our best tool for positive change. By signing up as members, we make our union strong and resourced enough to directly support each other on both the local and federal levels.
UAW Local 2478 Citizenship and Legislative Committee