December 6, 2024
Dear Colleagues,
As the fall semester winds down, we want to acknowledge and thank you for all the vital ways you contribute to our university. We appreciate your input, recommendations and partnership as we navigate and seize upon the opportunities and challenges ahead.
Some of you have received union solicitations from the United Auto Workers. The attached FAQs may be helpful to you, as they answer many of the questions we have received about the potential impacts of unionization on faculty, our shared governance model and our overall university mission. As we move forward, we remain committed to continuing our shared decision-making in areas relating to finances and budget, academic programs, tuition and other significant issues affecting our work and how we accomplish our academic mission.
We look forward to maintaining an ongoing dialogue with you about these issues as we move forward together in pursuit of sustained excellence. If you have questions that are not addressed here, please email Faculty Affairs at vpafa@usc.edu.
Thank you again for your support, and we hope you have a wonderful winter break.
Sincerely,
Andrew T. Guzman
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Steven D. Shapiro
Senior Vice President for Health Affairs
Frequently Asked Questions on Unionization
What is USC’s position on union organizing?
USC respects the right of unions to try to organize staff employees and has a long history of good relations with the unions that represent them. But faculty are different. USC believes that faculty are regarded as managerial under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and, in any case, do not need a union to speak for them. (See below FAQ: “Can supervisors and managers form a union under the NLRA?”)
- USC faculty have a system of shared governance in which (unlike almost all of our peer universities) all faculty participate equally. All USC faculty — tenured, tenure-track, and RTPC, full- and part-time — can and do have an equal vote in electing Academic Senate officers. Four of the last six Academic Senate presidents have been RTPC faculty.
- Faculty can speak for themselves and through their elected faculty officers to resolve issues, without needing a third party as their exclusive collective bargaining representative — and without faculty having to a pay a percentage of their salary as union dues.
- One of the advantages of being at a private university is that there is greater flexibility in responding to individual needs and situations. Union contracts tend to have a one-size- fits-all model.
If there were a final determination that a union can legally try to organize our faculty, USC would respect the right of eligible faculty to determine for themselves whether they want a union to be their exclusive collective bargaining representative. But we do not believe that would be in the best interests of our faculty or USC.
The university has consistently responded to faculty recommendations without any union representation. As an example, in response to matters raised in dialogue with faculty, USC President Carol Folt announced her USC Competes “moonshot.” In 2022, the university made a $700 million commitment to invest in compensation and benefits over five years. This initiative by the president was aimed at ensuring we are at competitive market levels to retain and recruit top talent. From 2022 to 2024, USC has significantly increased the salaries of RTPC faculty, and these increases rank well above most of our peer institutions.
We are confident that our faculty will ask good questions and do all they can to educate themselves on the impact of unionization and what decision is the right one for them and our shared academic mission.
The Union Organizing Process
What are unions?
Unions are organizations that represent employees in negotiations with their employer concerning their terms and conditions of employment. Unions are financed by their members through initiation fees and monthly dues.
What is a bargaining unit?
A bargaining unit is a group of similar employees who are collectively represented by a union.
What is the National Labor Relations Board?
The National Labor Relations Board, often called the NLRB or the Board, is a U.S. government agency that enforces the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal labor law covering most private employers. The NLRB holds secret ballot elections to determine if the members of the proposed bargaining unit wish a union to be their exclusive representative to bargain with the employer on the terms and conditions of employment. The NLRB also addresses unlawful acts or unfair labor practices committed by either employers or unions.
Can supervisors and managers form a union under the NLRA?
No. Under the NLRA, supervisors and managers are not entitled to form a union.
The Supreme Court has recognized that in a typical mature private university, authority is divided between the central administration and collegial bodies composed of faculty. Accordingly, under the NLRA, faculty are deemed managerial if members are included in faculty bodies that make effective recommendations on academic programs, enrollment management policies, finances, academic policies, and personnel policies and decisions.
At USC, all our faculty — tenured, tenure-track, and RTPC, full- and part-time — are part of shared governance and so are regarded as managerial. All USC faculty are eligible to and do serve on the faculty bodies that make effective recommendations in those areas, including, for example, the university-level faculty committees on Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Research, Academic Review, Finance and Enrollment, Academic Policies and Procedures, Employee Benefits, and Professional Responsibility. All faculty — tenured, tenure-track, and RTPC, full- and part-time — can and do run for office in the Academic Senate, and all faculty in the university can vote to elect those officers.
Also, many of our faculty act as supervisors, and so a union cannot organize them for that additional reason. Under the NLRA, faculty are regarded as supervisors if they use their independent judgment to effectively recommend hiring, promoting, disciplining, terminating, adjusting the grievances of, or otherwise responsibly directing others, including, for example, TAs, RAs or lab staff. And faculty generally are eligible to participate in hiring committees.
What union is seeking to represent USC’s RTPC faculty?
It is the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, UAW (better known as the United Auto Workers).
How will United Auto Workers attempt to unionize RTPC faculty?
The union may make promises and pressure faculty to sign union authorization cards so they can demand recognition or file a Petition for an Election with the NLRB.
What happens after a Petition for an Election has been filed with the NLRB?
When a union files a Petition for an Election seeking to become the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit, they must set forth a description of those they would like included and excluded from the bargaining unit.
The university would then evaluate whether the unit is appropriate; this would include determining whether it should challenge the unit on the basis that the employees sought to be represented are not eligible to form a union under the law. Under existing federal law, we believe that faculty are managerial employees via their participation in the university’s robust shared governance system, making a union not only unnecessary, but not legally viable under the law.
If a faculty member previously signed an authorization card (online or on paper), does that mean the faculty member must vote “yes” for a union if there is an election?
No, it doesn’t bind them. If a vote were held, it would be held by a secret ballot. No one will know how anyone voted. Anyone can vote as they wish during the election, regardless of whether or not they signed an authorization card.
Can faculty opt out of the union by not voting in an election, if one is held?
No. If you are included in the bargaining unit and the union is voted in, the union will become your exclusive bargaining representative — whether or not you voted — and regardless of how you voted. The union would also be the exclusive bargaining representative for future USC faculty whose programs or departments are in the bargaining unit, even though they did not have a chance to vote.
What happens if the United Auto Workers wins an election, if one is held?
The election is decided by a majority of eligible votes cast, even if that is only a fraction of the proposed bargaining unit. If the UAW wins, bargaining unit members may be represented by the union, and the university and the UAW begin a process known as “collective bargaining” with the goal of seeking agreement on a contract defining the terms and conditions of “employment” for faculty in the proposed bargaining unit.
What does the union want in return for its efforts?
The United Auto Workers expects to be paid. In bargaining concerning other units at USC, and at other private universities, the UAW has consistently proposed and negotiated “union security” clauses requiring all bargaining unit members to pay dues and initiation fees or agency fees as a condition of employment.
Collective Bargaining
What is collective bargaining?
Collective bargaining is a process by which a union and an employer negotiate the terms and conditions of employment, such as pay and benefits, for all members in the bargaining unit. The union has the exclusive authority to bargain on behalf of all bargaining unit members, collectively, for pay, terms of appointment, benefits and other “working conditions.” Once this process begins, the university will be prohibited from directly negotiating terms and conditions with individual members of the unit.
How does collective bargaining take place?
Collective bargaining is typically conducted in a series of meetings at which representatives of both the union and the university exchange written proposals for a union contract. Union negotiations can be long and complex and can take months and sometimes years to reach an overall agreement. During this time, the parties are to engage in good faith negotiations over the terms and conditions of employment. We cannot predict how long negotiations will take.
What happens if the union and an employer are unable to reach agreement?
Any contract requires the agreement of both sides. Sometimes, after good faith bargaining, no agreement can be reached. If that occurs, the university may make its final proposal, often called a “last, best and final offer.” In response, the union may ask its members to vote on the proposal. If the bargaining unit rejects the offer, there is no agreement, and the parties are at what is typically called an “impasse.” When there is a good faith impasse, the university may unilaterally implement its last, best and final offer and the parties may continue to bargain in an effort to reach agreement.
When would a new contract become effective?
A union contract does not become effective until bargaining is complete and there is final agreement on all provisions by both sides. Sometimes that is years after the union petition is filed with the NLRB and after some of the employees who voted in favor of the union have left the university. Sometimes, even after a great deal of good faith negotiating, a contract is not reached at all. If a contract is negotiated and agreed upon by both sides, the contract is fixed in place, usually for years at a time, and must be followed even though conditions may change.
Who would negotiate a contract?
Union representatives (typically, paid union employees) work together with a small subset of bargaining unit members, who are selected by the union, to sit at the bargaining table and negotiate on behalf of all unit members.
Impact of a Union on the Workplace
If the union wins the election, how will this impact current pay and benefits for those who will be represented by the union?
There is no way to know for certain how pay and benefits may be impacted. As a result of good faith bargaining, compensation and benefits can improve, diminish or stay the same.
How would unionization impact my relationship with my department?
It is difficult to say. USC has long encouraged our faculty to share their concerns directly. We recognize and value the voices of our faculty, and we respect them and their ideas. We believe our faculty can speak for themselves, personally as well as through their faculty committees. We have sought to be transparent in those interactions. Union contracts can reduce the flexibility and discretion of departments, programs and faculty in having those conversations and dealing with individual situations. Union contracts tend to propose one-size-fits-all mandates, irrespective of the different needs and circumstances of individual faculty.
If an election is held and the UAW wins, can I still agree with my department chair on special accommodations or assignments to meet my personal situation?
Unions are a third-party representative. Once a union is in place, the union acts as the exclusive representative for the employee and speaks for the employee in discussions with the employer regarding terms or conditions of employment, like wages and benefits. Ultimately, the union contract would apply to everyone, even if an individual employee disagreed with or was disadvantaged by one or more of its terms. With a union in place, department chairs engaging directly with individual faculty members on special accommodations or other deviations from a union contract on working conditions, wages or benefits likely would be prohibited as “direct dealing.”
If an election is held and UAW wins, but faculty later decide they no longer want to be collectively represented by UAW, what happens?
Once a union is voted in to represent a bargaining unit, it will stay in place indefinitely unless and until the union was legally “decertified.” “Decertification” is the legal procedure to end union representation and is subject to a set of technical legal rules and can be difficult to successfully accomplish. NLRB statistics show that, in the past five years, most attempts at decertification across the United States have been unsuccessful. If the UAW is voted in, it cannot be decertified for a minimum of one year. During that one-year period, if the union and USC agree on a final agreement, that agreement would serve as a bar to any attempt to decertify the union for up to an additional three years.
While difficult to accomplish, other USC employees have been successful in decertifying their union representation after years of dissatisfaction. In fact, after decertifying a union, one USC employee publicly stated, “Now, we can finally communicate freely with our employers without having a third party in between us tying our hands and stealing our money. We can now put all this behind us and begin the process of reconciliation and start working together to bring the best outcome for our [USC] Family.”