From JPL’s Website: Our Labor Relations Philosophy

What They Wrote

Our Response

JPL is committed to fostering a collaborative environment between employees and leaders to support our shared mission – to lead in space exploration and earth-science advancement. Mission success requires scientific curiosity, cohesive teamwork, rapid decision-making, and an effective and responsive workforce.

In this moment, we understand that JPL is not perfect. But we greatly value the working relationship we have built, and we believe that we are strongest and better when we can face our challenges through open dialogue and a shared commitment to “dare mighty things” together. While we deeply respect the role that organized labor has played in advocating for workplace protections in our nation’s history, we believe that forming a union at JPL at this time would restrict our ability to address the urgent challenges we are facing as a lab. These challenges are largely driven by forces outside of JPL, such as budget cuts and the broader pressures on our field. In this existential moment for JPL, we believe that a union would not help – and in fact would impede – our ability to confront these challenges.

If JPL management is willing to commit to a collaborative environment with employees to support our shared mission, why are they investing this much time and resources to discourage workers from forming a union that would allow them to have an equal say in the workplace?

We agree and believe that JPLers are the strongest and better when we can face our challenges through open dialogue and a shared commitment to “Dare Mighty Things.” Workers have started to organize on Lab so we can further this shared commitment: we believe that once JPLers have an equal say over our working conditions, Lab will be stronger.

Upper management claims that a worker union “would restrict management’s ability to address the urgent challenges the workplace is facing.” However, the opposite has been observed in unionized workplaces. We have seen unionized workers fight funding cuts, like at the University of California, where UAW members have been able to defeat funding cuts by working with state elected leaders. Management claims a union would not help and would impede their endeavors, when in fact we see evidence of the opposite.

We are concerned that a union could make JPL more bureaucratic, hampering our working partnerships between management and employees and slowing down our ability to solve problems quickly. In our view, maintaining the ability to respond swiftly and effectively in direct collaboration with employees to address issues that may arise – without the constraints of a labor union – will preserve the unique strengths of our community and protect the shared mission at JPL.

We have seen no evidence that a union would make JPL more “bureaucratic” or “slow.” Under collective bargaining, we - JPL workers - would be able to directly address workplace issues by negotiating with management over a legally binding contract. At Caltech, graduate student workers and postdocs formed a union and have reported being able to address issues quicker. For example, they now have clear timelines for workplace grievances. By “constraints,” management means our voices: when we have the right to bargain as equals, they no longer have the ability to make unilateral decisions.

Additionally, JPLers currently have no avenues to address workplace issues; when issues are brought forward, the resolution is determined solely by upper management. We could win a contract that allows JPLers to address issues in the workplace through arbitration, i.e a neutral arbitrator would make the final decision in workplace disputes such as harassment, accommodation requests, etc.

We believe the best way to advocate for JPL and all its employees is to do so without internal divisions. We believe that the best way to continue to build on and strengthen our collaboration at JPL is by listening, evolving, and problem solving – together. Working together has allowed us to accomplish incredible scientific achievements – to “Dare Mighty Things.”

JPLers have found leadership’s approach to layoffs, RTO mandate, reorg, etc., to be divisive. We started the process of unionizing to be able to sit down with upper management as equals and have a say about the working conditions on Lab.

We believe that the best way to strengthen JPL is by joining the hundreds of thousands of workers who have unionized in their workplace to improve their working conditions and fight attacks on science. We agree that working together has allowed us to accomplish incredible scientific achievements, and we believe the best way to “Dare Mighty Things” is by joining together to form JWU-UAW.