Ohio University Faculty Vote “Union Yes!”

In another hard-won victory for Ohio higher education, and after a yearslong organizing campaign, an overwhelming majority of faculty at Ohio University voted to form a union, United Academics of Ohio University. In the face of resistance from the administration, including an effort to restrict the size of the bargaining unit, faculty organized a campaign focused on their shared love of teaching, their students, and their bonds with one another. They connected their unionization efforts to the well-being of students, using the motto “faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.” When they finally won the right to hold their union election, faculty posted entertaining videos on social media about when and how to vote and updates to keep focus on the election.

Nearly eight hundred OU faculty now have the right to negotiate a union contract with the administration. Faculty aim to begin contract negotiations soon on issues including salary, security for non-tenure-track faculty, input in workload decisions, and protections for students facing increasingly harmful state and federal higher education policies.