Los Angeles mayoral candidate City Councilmember Nithya Raman is calling on USC to bargain with the USC Faculty Union.
“They should be coming to the bargaining table and talking to their workers and coming to you with the respect that you deserve,” Raman said in a joint video posted to Instagram Aug. 28.
The union, backed by the United Auto Workers (UAW), represents full-time, part-time and adjunct research, teaching, practitioner and clinical-track (RTPC) faculty. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
“For one of our largest employers to stand against workers coming together, it is unacceptable,” Raman said, speaking to Ryan Boyd and Helen Choi, both associate professors. “You’ve been organizing for two years.”
The group announced on June 3 that faculty voted to form a union after initially filing a petition to unionize in December of 2024.
The union was approved by almost 70% of the 1,821 votes cast.
Bargaining has yet to take place as the university challenges the formation of the union to the National Labor Relations Board.
Provost Andrew Guzman wrote in a statement on June 1 before the results were announced that the university would be seeking to resolve legal issues around the “unprecedented size and internal differentiation” of the bargaining unit.
“For this reason, the University has asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – in the event that a majority of ballots support representation by the United Auto Workers – to quickly review the validity of this result as the first step toward obtaining much-needed legal clarity over these issues,” Guzman wrote in the letter co-signed by Steven Shapiro, the senior vice president for health affairs.
A rally is scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m. by Tommy Trojan with speakers including Raman, Marissa Roy, a candidate for city attorney and State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, whose district includes the University Park Campus.