University of Southern California non-tenure-track faculty and academic workers formed a rally on campus on Wednesday to demand the university’s recognition of a new faculty union.
Union leaders and organizers from various USC departments spoke to the crowd, demanding that the university engage in fair bargaining practices with its postdoctoral scholars and recognize the formation of United Faculty-UAW, a union for non-tenure-track faculty.
Beginning at noon, around a hundred faculty members and academic workers carrying pro-union signs and pins chanted union slogans including “Respect our voice! Respect our vote!,” “Our union, united, will never be divided!” and “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” near the Tommy Trojan statue.
Around 12:35 p.m., the group crowded in front of Bovard Auditorium, where they delivered a letter addressed to the Interim President Beong-Soo Kim and Provost Andrew T. Guzman. The letter was signed by hundreds of faculty and outlined their demands to the administration.
Patrick Corbin, a full-time associate professor of practice with the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, said most research, teaching, practitioner and clinical — or non-tenure-track — faculty expressed support for the union, but have faced resistance from administrators for nearly a year.
A majority of the roughly 2,500 non-tenure-track faculty members first petitioned to unionize in December 2024. USC chose not to recognize the petition and on the same day released a Statement of Position calling the structure of the National Labor Relations Board “unconstitutional.”
The university later joined a series of hearings with the NLRB and faculty union organizers for a ruling on the issue, and both parties submitted final written positions on Feb. 21 — the NLRB has yet to release its decision.
“USC has decided to not recognize our right to form a union and to even hold a vote to have a union, so they took us to a hearing with the local NLRB, whom they say is unconstitutional,” Corbin said. “ We are confident that the local NLRB will find in our favor and we will move to a vote, but USC will more than likely keep appealing.”
Corbin said without union protections, many faculty live in constant worry for their jobs and benefits.
“They can let us go for any reason, really, and it’s been happening to our part-time folks,” Corbin said. “There’s really no job security. They say, there has to be just cause, but there really doesn’t [have to be], because we have no legal standing. It’s just a handshake. Often, I don’t receive a contract.”
Achinta S. McDaniel, a part-time faculty lecturer who is in her tenth year with the School of Dance, said that without warning, her work hours were reduced from more than 22 a week to 15.5 just before the school year began.
McDaniel said the university has begun disqualifying her and her young children from healthcare benefits they depend on.
“I have to come up with two grand a month to pay for [healthcare], and I have to choose between that, or my daughter’s childcare, because she’s only two years old,” she said. “So you’ll see me with my baby strapped to me as I teach class next week.”
USC’s commitment to their principles of excellence and academic competitiveness feels dulled without support for their faculty, McDaniel said.
“If USC is really putting their money where their mouth is as far as where their values go, espousing creativity, talent, integrity, research; if they really wanted all those things, then they would be supporting us as faculty: the people who own the curriculum and are making this place incredible,” she said.
USC is currently in the process of bargaining with USC Researchers and Fellows United-UAW, its postdoctoral researchers and fellows union. URFU-UAW members also joined the rally to demand new anti-discrimination and anti-harassment protections and call for the recognition of UF-UAW.
Priscilla Chan, a postdoctoral research associate at the Keck School of Medicine and member of the URFU-UAW bargaining team, said the bargaining process with USC had been slow, with the university remaining resistant to calls for policy changes and economic benefits.
“They are refusing to move on really, all of the core issues that postdocs care about — non-discrimination and harassment being one of them,” Chan said. “Things like compensation, paid time off, child care, health benefits, retirement, visa support.”
Currently, postdoctoral scholars are only allowed to file harassment and discrimination complaints through the Title IX office, which is ruled by USC, leaving workers unable to appeal decisions, Chan said. Unionized USC graduate student workers already won stronger protections against discrimination and harassment in their most recent contract, she added.
Chan said the university also continues to refuse to allow URFU-UAW the ability to vote to strike, diminishing their power.
USC declined to recognize UF-UAW with the rationale that as managers, faculty were ineligible to unionize, Corbin said. He added the refusal was surprising and disappointing after graduate student workers’ and postdoctoral scholars’ successful unionizations in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
A statement from the university to Annenberg Media said, “USC has a long history of good relations with the unions that represent our staff. But because of the role that our faculty play in shared governance, they are not eligible to unionize under existing law.”
The university did not state how it plans to address transparency and communication with staff or whether it will bargain with the union. The statement closed by saying, “This in no way diminishes our appreciation of the critical role that all USC faculty play in advancing our mission of academic excellence.”
Adjunct professors at the USC School of Cinematic Arts also formally unionized in a NLRB ballot in 2024, after USC declined to voluntarily recognize the union.
Unionization is about ensuring faculty are treated with respect and included in university decisions, Corbin said. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he said, some faculty members suddenly found their salaries frozen and contributions to retirement accounts paused; he added that this year, he again found his salary frozen with no discussion.
“I have not been part of shared governance since I landed at this university, and they’re always telling us that there’s this shared governance model,” he said. “So stop saying that, and just let us have shared governance; that’s why we want a union.”