Notice of Nominations and Elections for the UF-UAW Bargaining Committee

Nominations are hereby declared open for the United Faculty-UAW Bargaining Committee at 6:00 PM on Friday, Sept 25th, 2026. Nominations will remain open until 5:00 PM on Monday, Oct 5th, 2026.

The UF-UAW Bargaining Committee will negotiate the first union contract with USC on behalf of all bargaining unit employees. All eligible unit members who have signed a UF-UAW union authorization card are automatically nominated for the UF-UAW Bargaining Committee. Individuals who wish to run for election to the bargaining committee must accept nomination. Details about the bargaining committee, accepting nomination, and the election are below.

Responsibilities:

The primary responsibility of the Bargaining Committee is to negotiate an initial collective bargaining agreement with the USC administration’s team. Election to the committee obligates each member to represent and fight for the best possible contract for all members of the bargaining unit.

The committee will be trained and assisted by experienced negotiators from the UAW who will also participate in the negotiations with the University. See below for specific responsibilities:

  • Develop initial bargaining goals for ratification by union supporters across campus, using surveys, other relevant contracts, membership feedback from other sources, etc.
  • After ratification of initial bargaining goals, develop contract language proposals
  • Attend negotiation sessions
  • Assess, analyze, and respond to the University’s bargaining proposals and develop union counter proposals
  • Keep the membership informed and educated about the negotiations and the process
  • Coordinate with the Organizing Committee 
  • Make a recommendation to the membership on whether to approve a contract or take other actions (e.g., a vote to authorize the committee to call for strike action, if necessary)

Committee members should assume that the time commitment will be significant. Note that the schedule of bargaining itself is subject to negotiation with the USC administration’s bargaining team.

Bargaining committee structure:

The fifteen (15) bargaining committee positions are allocated in the following way based on the structure approved in our Town Hall vote on Thursday, Sept 24th, 2026:

  • Jurisdiction 1 (Dornsife, Annenberg, Viterbi): Two (2) positions 
  • Jurisdiction 2 (Bovard, Dworak-Peck, Iovine and Young, Price, Rossier): One (1) position
  • Jurisdiction 3 (Gould, Marshall): One (1) position 
  • Jurisdiction 4 (Architecture, Cinema, Drama, Kaufman, Roski, Thornton): One (1) position
  • Jurisdiction 5 (Biokinesiology & PT, Chan, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Davis): One (1) position 
  • Jurisdiction 6 (Libraries): One (1) position
  • And eight (8) at-large members from any school or department

The top vote getter from each of the jurisdictional positions will be elected to that respective position. The remaining eight (8) top vote getters will fill the eight (8) at-large positions. If only one individual accepts nomination in one of the six jurisdictions (or two individuals in the case of Jurisdiction 1), they will be considered elected by acclamation. 

In the case of an election, each voter will be able to vote for the number of candidates equal to the number of contested positions, up to a maximum of 15.   

Accepting nomination:

Any eligible Union supporter who wishes to accept the nomination for one of the fifteen [15] Bargaining Committee positions must indicate their intention in writing by emailing elections@unitedfaculty-uaw.org. When accepting nomination please include:

  1. Your name as you’d like it to appear on the ballot
  2. Your name, school, department, Full-time/Part-time/Adjunct designation and job title, and R/T/P/C (Research, Teaching, Practice, Clinical) designation
  3. Candidate statement (up to 500 words, optional) – In the case of a contested election, the statement will be posted on the website no later than Tues Oct 6th, 2026, and will be available on the online ballot during the election.

Eligibility to run and vote: 

Those eligible to accept nomination and/or run in the election are all RTPC/non-tenure-track and librarian full-time, part-time, and adjunct faculty who: 

  • are currently employed in a bargaining unit title or worked in a bargaining unit title in the last academic year and have a reasonable expectation of reappointment 
  • have signed a union authorization card (if you haven’t yet signed a card, you can do so here) 

Candidate Statements:

Each candidate may write and submit a candidate statement of no more than 500 words. These statements will be posted on the UF-UAW website. Statements may include hyperlinks. Name, title, phone number, and email address must be included, but will not be counted toward the 500 words.

It is the responsibility of the candidate to submit the candidate statement. All candidate statements must be received by the time nominations close, at 5pm on Monday, Oct 5th, 2026.

Election Dates:

In the event that the number of eligible candidates who accept nomination does not exceed the number of open positions (fifteen [15] positions), such candidates will be deemed elected by acclamation and no election will be held.  

In the event that the number of eligible candidates who accept nominations exceeds the number of open positions (fifteen [15] positions), elections will open at 8 AM on Oct 13th, 2026 and close at midnight on Oct 14th, 2026. The election will be via electronic voting. Step-by-step instructions will be provided at the close of nominations.

If you have questions, feel free to reply to this email, and a faculty colleague will be in touch.