SCIENTIFIC WORKERS IN A CHANGING WORLD
CLOSING RANKS IN A FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE
Frederico Carvalho
98th Executive Council of the World Federation of Scientific Workers
Paris, France, June 9-13, 2025
Presentation at the Symposium
‘Science for Peace and Equality: Fostering Diversity, Inclusion and Mutual Respect’
Round Table 1: Strengthening scientific solidarity and resilience
It is not easy to give encouraging answers to the question: how can scientific workers contribute to avoiding or simply mitigating the threats of various kinds that surround us. Threats that endanger not only the lives of millions of human beings, but also life in conditions worthy of being lived. In various ways and to varying degrees, we all certainly feel, and the vast majority suffer directly, the consequences of the path towards disaster that we are treading. The path is imposed without regard to the means by powerful interest groups held by a tiny minority that sees the planet as theirs and its inhabitants as a useful instrument to achieve the objectives they pursue.
In this context, scientific workers are a small but indispensable and extremely valuable fraction of that instrument. They are salaried workers who are mostly disposable whenever convenient, when their function has been fulfilled or it is possible and advantageous to replace them by others at lower costs.
There is no other way to defend ourselves than to build a union to engage in the collective struggle, making clear the convergence of interests, both our own and those of society in general. It is a difficult path, but there is no credible alternative. We are still far from achieving this, despite great progresses that have already been made.
We are aware of the existence of, and follow in action, a significant number of associations of scientific workers who seek to contribute to clarifying the nature, origin and consequences of the challenges that we face today. We owe it to them to make public serious analyses, supported by their own scientific work or that of others, analysis that are useful when presented in an appropriate manner, accessible not only to their fellows, who naturally cultivate different areas of knowledge, but also to followers, mostly lay people, who will remain followers if and only if they are able to assimilate and be attracted by the information they receive.
The origin and institutional status of such associations is diverse. Trade unions of scientific workers deserve particular attention due to their number, capacity for action, social impact and potential influence on the powers that be. Their historical roots and their main reason for being are naturally related to the defence of living and working conditions of their members and, in general, of the professional group they represent. Nowadays, the fight against job insecurity in its multiple forms and, in general, the limitations imposed by labour legislation, occupies a prominent place in the concerns and actions developed by trade unions of scientific workers, as in the case of their counterparts in other spheres of the labour world. To give an idea of this, I would like to quote an excerpt from the talk of a colleague, a scientific worker, with extensive trade union experience who spoke at a recent debate held in Lisbon by my association, the Organization of Scientific Workers, in partnership with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social Sciences, a Portuguese research unit. I quote:
“In the United Kingdom, almost half of teaching staff and nearly 70% of researchers are on fixed-term contracts, with thousands on zero-hours contracts (meaning “gratuitous or unpaid work contract”); in the USA, ¾ of members of university boards have no chance of tenure; in Germany, more than 90% of teaching staff are on fixed-term contracts; in Denmark, it is estimated that around 50 to 70% of the academic workforce is on temporary contracts; in Italy, since 2010, the number of permanent positions has been reduced by around 25% and more than half of academic staff are on fixed-term contracts.” (end of quote)
This situation has a negative impact on the personal and family living conditions of those affected, but it will also condition academic freedoms and work programmes of those affected and of the host institutions.
Under these conditions, it is understandable that major societal issues, as set out in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, tend to occupy limited space in the concerns, demands and, consequently, in the collective actions developed by trade union associations.
The situation is different with regard to other associations that, like the first, are civil society organizations as well — the so-called NGOs — even though in many cases their actions may in fact be conditioned by public authorities, especially when they live in the shadow of authoritarian or autocratic regimes, which does not mean that in so-called democracies there are no conditions imposed by other means.
There is a huge variety of organizations of this type (non-union) that bring together scientific workers as individual members or associations of scientific workers.
I will cite as an example a few of these entities of diverse nature and organization.
The Union of Concerned Scientists is a national American non-profit organization founded more than 50 years ago by scientists and students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It claims to have the goal of placing Science in a rigorous and independent way, at the service of developing solutions that lead to a healthy, safe and fair future for human societies. It is currently made up of a group of around 250 scientists, analysts, political science experts, organizers and communicators dedicated to that goal. Another notable example is the “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists”, that created the well-known “Doomsday Clock” in 1947. The Bulletin, widely distributed online, is the result of the work of a team of around 50 people who claim to provide the general public, political decision-makers and scientists with the information needed to counter threats to our common existence arising from human action. At a qualitatively similar level, although with fewer resources, is the OTC, an independent Portuguese NGO with half a century of experience, affiliated with the WFSW, whose activity is based on the pro bono contributions of around 60 collaborators from various universities and public research centres. On another level, there are associations or federations of scientific workers’ associations of a different human and material dimension and, in some cases, a different geographical scope, such as the “International Science Council” or the Vietnamese Union of Science and Technology Associations, the latter with around half a million members; or CAST- the China Association for Science and Technology, in this case with several million individual members associated in local groups or associations geographically dispersed throughout the vast territory of the P.R. of China.
The International Science Council[i] periodically promotes an initiative called “Global Knowledge Dialogue” that discusses key issues that lie at the interface between science-society and science-politics.
The Vietnamese Union cited above points out as one of its objectives (quote) “to persuade and lead scientists to engage in the struggle for Peace, against war and for friendship and mutual understanding between different nations in the world” (end of quote).
The world of scientific work is complex and multifaceted and permeated by internal disputes. It is important to recognize that there are common interests that must prevail. Associations are a reality that must be seen as a privileged instrument in the fight to defend those common interests. It is important to bring into this fight many who, for various reasons, are unaware of its necessity and mistrust their ability to achieve the desired results. Those who fight for better living and working conditions in the present, but also for a future of sustainable life on the planet, must be aware that on the other side of the barricade they face a multinational front of interests, promoter of conflicts and war, voracious devourer of natural resources that are common goods of humanity. But they must also be prepared to resist the assault of a popular front with a clouded awareness of the values of science, shaped by the omnipresent and powerful media controlled by those same interests.
With the generations that will succeed us in mind, we will understand that it is important to resist. The fight is difficult, but is necessary.
June 12, 2025
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Article on the FMTS-WFSW website:
EN: https://fmts-wfsw.org/2025/11/closing-ranks-in-a-fight-for-the-future/?lang=en
FR : https://fmts-wfsw.org/2025/11/serrer-les-rangs-dans-une-lutte-pour-lavenir/
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[i] The International Science Council brings together 250 international scientific unions and associations, national and regional scientific organizations, including academies, government agencies and ministries, science and research councils, international scientific federations and societies, and organizations of young scientists.
https://council.science/about-us/our-regions/
