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UC Postdoc Union Testifies Before Lawmakers
A recent Science article, posted in the Science Careers section, reported that representatives from the UC postdoc union testified recently at a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor. Ludmila Tyler, a UC postdoc, led the charge in letting the lawmakers understand the plight of UC postdocs. Representative George Miller (D-CA), who chaired the hearing, was notably moved by Dr. Tyler’s testimony. From the article:
Tyler’s brave and poignant description of the low pay, insecurity, chancy benefits, difficulty securing maternity leave, and general discouragement that many postdocs endure was effective. “I have colleagues who say, ‘Why don’t I quit science and work at Home Depot? I hear they’re a pretty good employer,’ ” she told the congressional representatives. “And the sad thing is, they’re only half joking.” The members of Congress seemed surprised and, according to Miller, “deeply concerned” and “disappointed” by this and other testimony — which indicates how effectively the viewpoints of the research universities and today’s established scientists have dominated the discussion and how little attention tomorrow’s scientists’ concerns have received.
Apparently, the postdocs made a strong impression upon the politicians and may have rallied some sympathy for their cause:
The lawmakers, two of them UC alumni, all expressed chagrin. Miller in particular seemed flummoxed by Tyler’s presentation. He mentioned briefly that what she revealed appeared to contradict the widely assumed scientist shortage. “It’s almost as if we’re toying with some of the brightest, most talented, and skilled people in our society,” he mused in dismay. “This raises serious questions about the underlying … policies. … If we are going to subsidize the acceleration of America’s excellence and talents on the back of these very talented individuals, something is very upside down in the university community, very upside down. … The policy question around the use and abuse of these grants is a larger issue for the Congress.”
The writer of the article, Beryl Lieff Benderly, analyzes the situation beautifully and asks some hard-hitting questions as she writes:
Even more fundamental than the passage of a particular bill is the question of what, exactly, the “deeply concerned” Miller and his colleagues understand to be the policy problems involved in universities’ treatment of postdocs. The lawmakers’ statements at the Berkeley hearing make clear that they could use a good deal more education about the realities of life in the nation’s university labs. Was Miller troubled by specific transgressions of particular employers or by the deep and pervasive dysfunctional nature of the “pyramid” system of academic research, which depends on the systematic exploitation of cheap graduate student and postdoc labor? Solving the first problem would be straightforward, but solving the second would require a fundamental reform of the system and dislocations in practices that are dear to powerful interest groups.
June 8th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
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