Compared with other faculty, those with tenure generally have higher job security and pay, and dedicate more time to research, as opposed to classroom instruction. 

UTSF's election process comes amid heightened sensitivity on campus around the security of the university's workforce, as the effects of sweeping budget cuts over the next two years take increasingly clear shape. Late last month, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said nearly 100 people had been laid off as a result of the spending reduction. 

"We already know people have significant concerns about the budget cuts and the budget priorities that the university is setting," said physics professor and UTSF organizer NiCole Buchanan. "There are concerns about academic freedom. We're also seeing disturbing trends in funding cuts for research and challenges in funding our graduate students."

Though Buchanan recognizes the urgency of these concerns among members, she stressed the importance of forming the union in a democratic manner so all voices are heard in "a more deliberative process."

"But that doesn't mean that we are not acting and beginning to organize around these other really urgent issues …," she said.

Buchanan added that the union’s executive council is expected to be formed by early February, at which point the union will select its representative assembly.

"That will put us in a perfect position to begin moving towards our bargaining," she said. 

Danny Caballero, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, will chair the union’s election committee. He said more than 100 faculty members attended the membership meeting either in person or virtually, far surpassing the requirement to meet quorum. 

 At the meeting, there was "really good discussion about how to make sure that our elections process is transparent, democratic and open," Caballero said.

James Madison College professor Anna Pegler-Gordon said that although the election process has just begun and UTSF is still months away from finalizing a contract with MSU, being officially recognized by the university has already granted the union the ability to work directly with other unions on campus that are facing similar issues.

"There's a lot of non-contractual power that we have from coming together," she said.

UTSF received recognition from MSU in September, following years of negotiations.

The efforts began in 2020, when tenure-track faculty began discussing unionizing after salaries and retirement benefits were cut during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, the union announced that a majority of tenure-system faculty had signed authorization cards supporting the union — an important step that required MSU to move toward voluntarily recognizing the union. 

What followed was a drawn-out dispute wherein union organizers repeatedly claimed at board meetings that MSU was stalling the process of defining which employees should be eligible for inclusion in the bargaining unit — or the group of faculty eligible for union representation.

Negotiations came to an end in September, when an arbitrator confirmed that a majority of tenured faculty had, in fact, signed cards supporting the union, prompting the university to officially recognize it.