As unionized researchers in the UAW, we are part of a national movement of workers fighting back against the cuts to federal research funding that are impacting our lives and careers here at UMass. Today we’re writing with three updates about our fight, and how you can get involved!
1. Postdocs from CORE-UAW and Harvard University, along with members of the UAW’s Higher Education department met with US Senator Ed Markey’s office Thursday to share stories about how federal funding cuts are affecting us and our research here at UMass Chan. Sen. Markey committed to taking a public position in support of protecting NIH funding and maintaining the current indirect costs rate cap in the 2026 congressional budget. We also got a commitment from the senator’s office to support us in our efforts to prevent postdoc layoffs and to protect academic workers and our research.
2. Senator Markey’s office is looking for stories from academic workers who have been impacted by cuts to federal funding. If you or your research has been impacted by these cuts, please fill out this form to share your story. Senator Markey may use these testimonials in press releases, social media, or communications with federal agencies and elected officials.
3. Our union, UAW, is one of the plaintiffs in a case filed in federal court by the ACLU that is challenging federal grant cancellations. If you have been impacted by NIH grant cancellations, please fill out this form by Monday, May 19. It is crucial for workers to provide information to our attorneys about the impact of NIH grant terminations (both termination of individual grants and termination of grant programs) or grant applications that were delayed without answer or administratively withdrawn by NIH. This information collected will be used to argue for which grants should be reinstated in the event the case is successful, so please fill out as much information as possible. The attorneys have filed a protective order in this case and personally identifying information will be confidential and not released publicly.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Best,
Akshay Alaghatta
Graduate Student, Department of Medicine
Evan Hass
Postdoc, Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology