Courtesy of Chicago Union

Approximately 1,200 faculty members at the University of Illinois at Chicago have officially formed a union. After more than a year of organizing efforts and legal battles, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board recently certified the UIC United Faculty Local 6456, which is a partnership between the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors.

Local 6456 represents UIC faculty who have more than half-time appointments, excluding those in the colleges of medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. There are two separate bargaining units, one to cover tenure and tenure-track faculty, and the other for contingent faculty, such as instructors and adjuncts.

UIC is now among only a handful of top-tier public research institutions in the country with unionized professors. “This is a huge thing,” said Nick Christen, a field service director for IFT. “It’s a tremendous victory for the faculty joining up to make sure they have a voice in the workplace.”

Bob Breving, associate director of the DePaul Labor Education Center, views the action at UIC as a sign of what’s to come at other public universities. “You are going to see more and more top-tier universities organized,” he said. “Across the country, one of the first things to be axed in any state budget is the higher education budget. They’re really hurting right now.”