USC faculty vote to unionize as the university makes another legal challenge

Non-tenure-track faculty at the University of Southern Californiahave voted to unionize after more than a year of opposition from the university.

“ I think it just goes to show that the vast majority of faculty on campus who are non-tenured or non-tenure track are in support of making positive change towards their working conditions,” said Michael Bodie, an associate professor of practice of cinematic arts.

The unit is made up of more than 2,500 educators from various schools across USC, and first filed a petition for an election to unionize in December 2024.

Faculty have said a union is necessary to address “stagnant salaries, increasing workloads, vanishing benefits, threats to job security, and a lack of transparency in administrative policies.”

Bodie said despite his position being full-time, he has taken on side gigs to help pay his bills.

“We just want to be able to keep a roof over our heads, and we want to be able to pay for gas, and we want to be able to feed our families. It's that simple, and right now people aren't feeling that,” he said.

How has USC responded to the faculty union movement?

USC challenged the unionization proposal, saying the faculty that made up the proposed unit were “managerial” because of the university’s shared governance structure.

In March, the National Labor Relations Board disagreed, and allowed the vote to move forward. But on the day of the ballot count this week, USC again challenged the effort, asking for a review of that decision.

"This election has presented not just important substantive issues but important legal issues as well," a USC spokesperson said in a statement. "The University has asked the National Labor Relations Board to quickly review the validity of this result as the first step toward obtaining much-needed legal clarity over these issues.”

The voting period for the ballots had been extended by several weeks, because the university had given the NLRB incomplete addresses for faculty members, according to the union. USC did not address that issue in response to LAist's request for comment.