Did you know?
There is no quorum required for a union election. If there is an election, it would be decided by a majority of eligible votes cast, even if the votes cast represents only a fraction of those petitioned in the bargaining unit.
For example, if there are 2900+ faculty petitioned for in the bargaining unit and only 100 faculty vote, and of those 100, 51 vote in favor of a union and 49 vote against a union, then the union wins the election and all 2900+ faculty will be exclusively represented by the union.
The University takes the position that, legally, our faculty are managers and supervisors and are not eligible to be represented by a union. In particular, our faculty play a central role in managing the university through their participation in faculty governance. For example, our faculty have the primary responsibility in managing the curriculum, have a critical role in deciding on hiring and promoting faculty, and frequently supervise TAs, RAs, or staff. That’s very different from a job working an auto assembly line.
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 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.
Updates regarding recent RTPC full- and part-time faculty unionization efforts can be found through this webpage. In addition to FAQs and recent messages from senior leadership, a resource page regarding faculty shared governance policies and RTPC contracts has been compiled for faculty who wish to learn more about their existing rights at USC.
RTPC & Faculty Shared Governance Resources
Links to relevant resources on faculty governance at USC as well as existing policies on RTPC faculty rights and responsibilities.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions received from faculty on the topic of RTPC faculty unionization efforts and impacts.