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The National Institutes of Health and a union representing its postbaccalaureate, graduate student and postdoctoral researchers have agreed to a contract that the union says includes increased pay, benefits and protections. But congressional approval is still required for the financial gains to materialize.

“All requirements under this agreement are subject to the availability of appropriations,” says the document posted online by the union, NIH Fellows United, a United Autoworkers affiliate.

Last month, the NIH fellows (nonpermanent early-career researchers) that the union represents voted by a 98 percent margin in favor of the tentative agreement, said Haley Chatelaine, a postdoc fellow. She said about half of the 5,000 fellows voted.

The NIH confirmed in an email Monday that a contract is finalized, but it didn’t provide a copy. “We are partnering with the UAW to create a packaged document, which will be shared soon” and look forward “to a positive labor-management relationship,” the email said.

Science reported earlier on the agreement, noting that it is the first “negotiated by a union representing scientists at a federal research facility.”

According to a union document listing the contract wins, the three-year contract says that NIH can now only terminate fellows for “just cause,” that non-full-time-equivalent fellows will get 3.5 percent to 12.5 percent annual raises, and that non-full-time-equivalent fellows will have 30 days off annually and 12 weeks of paid parental leave. (This paragraph has been corrected to add the word “equivalent.”)

Among other things, the deal also includes bullying and harassment protections and health and safety regulations, Chatelaine said. She said the contract ensures that early-career researchers can protect one another and science moving forward.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has said he will downsize the NIH his first day in the job.

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