ATHENS, Ohio — Nearly 800 Ohio University faculty will soon be part of a union, following a years-long organizing campaign and an election that saw more than 70% of participating faculty vote to unionize, according to unofficial results.
“We worked really hard for this, and we actually had a very good sense that we had strong support,” faculty organizer Julie White told the Independent. “It was a pretty overwhelming victory, and now I think the task is to go forward and represent the interest and concerns of faculty.”
Of 795 eligible faculty, 642 cast ballots in the union election, according to a ballot tally by the State Employee Relations Board, obtained via a records request. Of those who voted, 453 cast ballots in favor of unionization, while 189 voted against. One ballot was void.
“I am so proud to be part of OU faculty coming together to vote yes for our union,” Rachel Terman, an associate professor in sociology, said in a press release from United Academics of Ohio University, the faculty union. “I am looking forward to a faculty union that works with the administration to do what is best for students, faculty and higher education in Ohio and particularly southeast Ohio.”
Throughout the campaign, union organizers have emphasized issues such as pay, the short-term contracts offered to instructional faculty, workloads and lack of faculty input in decisions that affect them.
The campaign’s slogan: “Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.”
“When instructors face unstable contracts and unfair wages, it impacts the classroom,” David LaPalombara, a professor in the School of Art and Design, said in UAOU’s release. “Unionization ensures that faculty can dedicate their full energy to teaching, research and student success.”
White, a political science professor and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies core faculty member, told the Independent that since faculty priorities are no secret, OU should be well prepared to enter contract negotiations.
“I hope we will have partners of goodwill on the other side of the table,” White said. “I hope they have seen [faculty concerns] coming, and they have some ideas how to work collegially with us to address that.”
White said she and other union organizers hope contract negotiations can kick off this semester.
“That may be ambitious, but also, I think we’re all anxious to get started,” White said.
The election results must now be officially certified. An SERB representative said in an email that the SERB board “will vote on certifying the election results at its next regularly scheduled Board Meeting on April 17, 2025,” assuming no objections are filed to the ballot tally. Objections would have to be filed within 10 days of the Monday, March 24 count, the SERB representative said.
UAOU, meanwhile, will survey faculty about their concerns to prepare for negotiation, White said. The union also has to select a bargaining committee.
UAOU is affiliated with the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers. According to its press release, UAOU members will join more than 1.8 million people affiliated with the AFT nationally, and faculty at 12 Ohio campuses who are part of the AAUP.
“The best way for faculty to advocate for themselves, their students and their profession is to stand together in unity, especially in this time of political attacks on higher education,” Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said in UAOU’s press release. “United Academics of Ohio University did just that when they voted to form their union.”
White emphasized federal and state changes in higher education in her conversation with the Independent.
“We’re interested in working with the administration to do what I’m sure we’re all committed to, which is to maintain the academic mission and to do right by students,” White said. “They’ve been really impacted by some of the decisions that have been made, both at the federal and at the state level, and we need to do what we can at the university level to protect the academic experience of our students.”
OU did not return a request to comment for this story.
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