Sign an Authorization Card

Joining Together for a Better Caltech

Like thousands of academic employees across the country, we are forming a union to bargain collectively with Caltech and advocate more broadly for our common interests like improved wages and health benefits, protections from discrimination or abusive treatment, and rights and protections for visa holders.

Right now, signing a union authorization card is the simplest and most important way to support forming our union, C/GPU.

Without a Union:

  • Caltech is the final decision-maker on all aspects of wages, benefits and working conditions;
  • Caltech may consider input about Caltech Graduate Researcher and Postdoc working conditions, but decides how and when to use that input;
  • Caltech can change working conditions without Caltech Graduate Researchers and Postdocs’ agreement; and
  • Caltech rules and regulations can’t be easily enforced by individual Caltech Graduate Researchers and Postdocs.

With a Union:

  • Caltech Graduate Researchers and Postdocs choose a bargaining committee that gathers input from other Caltech Graduate Researchers and Postdocs;
  • That bargaining committee negotiates a contract on equal footing with Caltech assisted by active participation of Graduate Researchers and Postdocs;
  • That contract must be approved by a vote of Caltech Graduate Researchers and Postdocs before it goes into effect;
  • That contract determines the terms and conditions of our employment and is binding and enforceable, usually by appeal to a neutral third party; and
  • Caltech Graduate Researchers and Postdocs gain a stronger public voice, working with tens of thousands of other UAW members who lobby and engage elected officials to make improvements.