Brown University Postdocs Labor Union: Inside the Fight for Fair Wages, Visa Protections & Workplace Rights
Caroline Keroack, a Brown University postdoc and union organizer, discusses the challenges of academic labor—from stagnant wages to visa struggles—and how collective action is fighting back.
It’s no secret that academia has faced sustained attacks in recent years. From coordinated efforts to undermine institutional credibility to assaults on free speech and protest rights, the assault on university workers and students has intensified dramatically in the opening weeks of the second Trump administration. The unlawful detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a leader in divestment advocacy at Columbia University, and the brazen street abduction of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk by plainclothes ICE agents, among numerous others make it unmistakably clear: the government is escalating its crackdown on dissent in real time. Meanwhile, universities either feign helplessness or actively collaborate with these oppressive measures.
This repression coincides with the broader targeting of undocumented immigrants, migrants, and individuals holding temporary visas or residency status—many of whom are deported without due process. These policies leave a lasting impact on the growing number of international postgraduate researchers and students, whose visas often hang in precarious balance.
Such draconian measures and civil rights violations align with the widening wage gaps and wealth inequality afflicting most U.S. workers—disproportionately so in higher education. It’s against this backdrop that postdocs and Dean’s Faculty Fellows at Brown University have mobilized for fair working conditions after winning voluntary union recognition in January 2024. Yet, as of March 2025, the university has refused to agree to a just contract for the Brown Postdoctoral Labor Organization (BPLO).
I had the opportunity to speak with Caroline Keroack, a postdoctoral researcher at Brown and BPLO organizer, about the grassroots campaign to unionize, the hurdles in negotiating with administrators, and the importance of collective action in academic labor. She provides a unique perspective on how researchers are fighting for improved wages, benefits, and workplace safeguards—and shares actionable advice for workers across industries looking to organize for the dignity and compensation they deserve.
Full unabridged conversation below and on all podcast platforms.
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