UW academic workers: ‘Equity is not Optional’

Postdocs and Research Staff at the University of Washington are pushing back on university administration’s attempts to weaken discrimination protections 

SEATTLE, WA (July 2, 2026) — University of Washington administrators are pushing to undo discrimination protections during contract negotiations with Postdoctoral Scholars and Research Staff, warns the workers’ union, UAW Local 4121.

Per UAW Local 4121: “In a joint Postdoc and Research Staff bargaining session on June 9, UW administration pushed an anti-discrimination and harassment proposal that would dismantle existing protections for workers based on medical condition, ethnic origin, political affiliation, and union membership. Meanwhile, Postdocs and Research Staff presented proposals that would make UW safer and more equitable by instituting new protections and support for non-citizen and trans workers, and by prohibiting discrimination based on caste.”

Postdocs and researchers during their rally in June. Photo: UAW Local 4121

Workers are raising concerns that this erosion of workplace rights is the university’s attempt to obey-in-advance the whims of the Trump/Vance administration, which has threatened to withhold funding from other universities that don’t take steps to remake educational institutions to suit the administration’s agenda.

“UW admin has signaled that they plan to preemptively capitulate to the Trump Administration,” said German Rojas, a Postdoctoral Scholar in Neurobiology and Biophysics. We’ve seen how this plays out at other institutions, like Columbia University: compliance will not protect UW or UW’s funding, and academic freedom suffers. UW’s attempts to cut protections for some of us are a concerning signal that they’re willing to cut them for all of us.”

Workers gathered in late June for an “Equity is Not Optional” rally, protesting the university’s proposal weakening protections and calling attention to several other key demands during this cycle of contract negotiations.

Those demands include fair pay, equitable wages and benefits regardless of funding source, and stronger health and safety protections for all workers. Per UAW 4121, health and safety protections are especially important to researchers whose work is threatened by the Trump/Vance administration’s attacks on research, science, and higher education.