USC faculty groups vote to unionize and university vows to challenge it
Key takeaways
- But before the vote count ended shortly before midnight Tuesday, USC signaled that it would not accept the union victory.
- The new union would cover more than 2,700 full-time, part-time and adjunct faculty across hundreds of disciplines in 22 schools and the USC libraries.
- Union supporters contend that the thousands of workers — despite different titles and job areas — face similar dis-empowerment in their day-to-day jobs.
Tommy Trojan statue on the USC campus in Los Angeles. (Etienne Laurent / For The Times) By Jaweed Kaleem Staff Writer Follow June 3, 2026 11:20 AM PT 6 min Click here to listen to this article Share via Close extra sharing options Email Facebook X Linked In Threads Reddit Whats App Copy Link URL Copied! Print 0:00 0:00 1x This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
A different kind of momentous election result has landed — this one at the University of Southern California — as a majority of more than 1,800 faculty members voted to unionize, adding to a growing labor movement among higher-education faculty in the state and nationwide.
But before the vote count ended shortly before midnight Tuesday, USC signaled that it would not accept the union victory. In a June 1 message to faculty, the university said it had asked the National Labor Relations Board to “quickly review the validity” of the vote, citing “unresolved” legal questions and the proposed unit’s “unprecedented size and internal differentiation” among job classes.