NIH Says It Will No Longer Recognize the Research Fellows’ Union

NIH leadership said the union “should never have been certified,” in an email to the union’s leadership.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya testifies

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Tom Williams/AP

The Trump administration said it would no longer recognize a union formed by early-career researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the latest in a spate of efforts to reduce the footprint of federal workers’ unions.

An email sent Monday to leadership of the NIH Fellows United-UAW union from the NIH Office of Human Resources asserted that NIH fellows, whose work is generally funded through term-limited grants, “are not ‘employees’” and are not “employed in an agency.”

“The NIH/UAW bargaining unit should never have been certified,” the email, reviewed by NOTUS, continued.