We’re Joining Together for a better USC

We are joining together as a union so we can bargain collectively with the University of Southern California. We are also joining tens of thousands of other academic workers across the United States, including at private institutions like Harvard, NYU, The New School, Barnard, Boston University, Tufts, and Fordham, who are, like us, seeking a better future through collective bargaining as part of the UAW.

Without collective bargaining, we face stagnant wages in relation to the costs of housing and living, increasing workloads, vanishing benefits, threats to our job security, and a lack of transparency in administrative policies. Many of us serve on committees, faculty councils, and/or the Academic Senate, where we advocate for policies that would improve our working lives, but we can only make recommendations–USC is free to ignore them.

By contrast, with collective bargaining, we have a say in our working conditions, and can negotiate a binding agreement so that USC cannot change the terms of our employment without our consent. As employees from across USC’s two campuses, we have formed a union to improve our working conditions and to make the institution a more equitable, effective, sustainable place. Like the thousands of employees at USC who already have unions, faculty deserve the voice and respect we gain through collective bargaining.