The way forward for academic workers under a new Trump presidency
Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election represents a major step back for the United States and a serious threat to workers across the country. In the same election, however, academic workers have helped enshrine the right to an abortion in Nevada and Arizona, constitutionally protect the right to gay marriage in California, and elect progressive state assemblymembers and city councilmembers across the state. Measures to adequately fund public transit in San Francisco and to guarantee quality infrastructure and new protections for tenants in Berkeley are also leading. In winning these victories, members of our union are building on a foundation that we laid during the first Trump administration.
During his first term, Trump decreed that graduate workers had no right to form unions, and every one of his proposed federal budgets included deep cuts to the NIH that would have directly harmed Postdocs and Academic Researchers. Academic workers should prepare for similar efforts in a second term, along with attacks on free speech, LGBT rights, and abortion rights, as well as attempts to abolish DACA and implement mass deportations. But even in the hostile environment of the first Trump term, academic workers secured crucial victories. ASEs won industry-leading protections against discrimination, harassment and retaliation. UC Postdocs joined a nationwide fight that repeatedly defeated Trump’s attempts to cut funding for science. Thousands of UC Academic Researchers organized and won a union under Trump, and academic workers won major legislative victories, including the right for GSRs to form a union.
No matter how dark the outlook between 2017 and 2021, UC academic workers stayed committed to building a stronger union. It’s going to take the same dedication to persevere through the next four years—in fact, it will likely be a harder fight. But if our solidarity stays strong, academic workers have the power to win that fight once again.
Members at many campuses are coming together in the next few days to discuss next steps. Keep an eye out for announcements of those meetings, and if you’re not currently a member, take a moment to sign up at go.uaw4811.org/join.
