Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2024

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Early Career Researchers Vote to Establish Union at NIH Prior to wrapping up 2023, the early-career researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) cast an overwhelming majority vote in favor of unionization—a first at a federal research agency. The new union, NIH Fellows United, joins the growing move ment around the United States to unionize within the research community. NIH Fellows United represents more than 5,000 non-permanent researchers, including graduate students, postdocs, and research fellows, at NIH research facilities. Under fed eral rules, workers will not be permitted to engage in strike activity, but they intend to push for better pay and improved working conditions.

Could Postdocs See a Change in Pay Under NIH Rules? At the Society’s 2023 Annual Meeting, the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) held a session to discuss the future of postdoctoral training following a wave of national discussions on unionization, career opportunities, and the needs of the scientific workforce. This session coincided with a Request for Information by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on much the same topic with a direct opportunity for graduate students, postdocs, and researchers to provide feedback for consideration by a working group tasked with providing bold recommendations to the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director. The initial report from this working group was released in mid-December and made several recommendations, includ ing adjusting the minimum starting salaries of U.S. biomed ical postdocs to $70,000, up from the current minimum of $56,484. It also recommended a five-year cap on the length of postdoc positions, an expansion of health care, retirement, and childcare benefits, increased support for international postdocs, and other measures meant to enhance the quality of the postdoctoral experience. While the recommendations are not conceptually different from the findings of a 2012 advisory group, those involved in the recent report believe there to be a greater sense of

urgency now in the current economy. In the more than 3,000 responses received from a call for public comment, the vast majority of respondents (87%) expressed concerns about postdoc salaries. While these recommended changes shine a light on issues that many in the postdoc community have been voicing over the past several years, it does little to shed light for principal investigators on how they will be able to adjust to increased salaries given that R01 grant amounts have remained flat since their introduction in 1998. Concerns were also ex pressed in the report recommendations about potential un intended consequences for junior professors who may not be able to compete for grants if they cannot hire enough post docs or the potential impact on minority-focused institutions. Newly instituted NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli thanked the working group for their efforts, but declined to comment on if or when any proposed changes might be put in place. U.S. Visa Clarity a Boon to STEM On December 27, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services released new data on the impact of a January 2022 adjustment to the guidance criteria relating to two visa cat egories for STEM workers—the O-1A, a temporary visa for “aliens of extraordinary ability” that often paves the way to a green card, and a subset of an EB-2 (employment-based) visa, which bestows a green card on those with advanced STEM degrees.

February 2024

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