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Rockefeller University

Faculty & Staff Resources

Guidance for Faculty and Staff
Unionization and union negotiations are highly regulated. As a result, it is important for faculty and staff to familiarize themselves with the legal restrictions that apply to them when speaking with postdoctoral researchers about the union and about negotiations.

Below are important legal guidelines for faculty and staff members to follow when discussing the topic of the union with postdoctoral researchers.

  1. Do not threaten: Do not tell or suggest to a postdoctoral researcher that supporting the union or becoming a member of the union – or conversely, not becoming a member – will result in negative treatment or have certain consequences for that postdoctoral researcher or for postdoctoral researchers as a group.
  2. Do not interrogate: Do not ask questions about what an individual postdoctoral researcher thinks about the union or if they are involved in the union. If a postdoctoral researcher voluntarily shares that information, you may listen, but you may not ask questions about it.
  3. Do not promise: Do not promise a postdoctoral researcher or a group of postdoctoral researchers anything of value as incentive to become a union member or not to participate in union job actions. While a union representative can make such promises, faculty are prohibited from promising anything on behalf of the university or the union.
  4. Do not surveil: Union activities such as union meetings are protected by law. Do not engage in surveillance of these activities or even the appearance of doing so.

Questions
If you have a specific issue or question, please contact postdocunioninfo@rockefeller.edu.