Penn State faculty trying to start a union are calling foul after university administration plans college-by-college meetings regarding unionization efforts.
Members of the Penn State Faculty Alliance — a group of faculty pushing for unionization — say the meetings planned by administration are “anti-union.”
On Tuesday, Penn State announced the faculty meetings would start next Monday, the faculty alliance said. The announcement came a week after President Neeli Bendapudi, along with presidents of the other state-related universities, testified before the state House Appropriations Committee in Harrisburg.
There, state Rep. Tarik Khan, D-Philadelphia, asked Bendaupdi to commit to not use public funds or university resources to interfere with union organizing or to discourage faculty from exercising their right to join a union. She responded, yes.
“Penn State’s administration is trying to drive a wedge between faculty members,” said Andrea Adolph, an English professor at Penn State New Kensington. “We are coming together to form a faculty union to improve conditions at Penn State. We are organizing to achieve more — to preserve high-quality education, to support research and discovery.”
In December, the Faculty Alliance turned in thousands of union authorization cards to the state’s Labor Relations Board. It petitioned to represent all faculty at its main campus, Commonwealth Campuses and university libraries.
An election will take place in April, said Wyatt DuBois, university spokesman, which will begin in April and be conducted via mail-in ballots.
DuBois said the meetings serve as information sessions in response to questions received about faculty unionization.
“These information sessions are designed to be an optional space to support open, respectful dialogue and provide information as the process moves forward,” DuBois said. “The goal is to highlight the process, share information about who will be included in the collective bargaining unit and encourage faculty to educate themselves further about the process and, most importantly, vote in the upcoming election.”
DuBois said Penn State’s faculty unionization website, unionfacts.psu.edu, was developed to provide information about the unionization process.
“As we have stated before, we respect their right to seek union representation, and we worked with the Penn State Faculty Alliance and the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to finalize the details of the election,” he said.
Faculty Alliance members say the university’s website is disingenuous, and implies unionization risks Penn State’s research capabilities, its ability to maintain grant-funded work and faculty’s privacy and autonomy.
The unionization push comes as Penn State is preparing to close seven Commonwealth Campuses statewide by spring 2027, including the New Kensington and Fayette locations in southwestern Pennsylvania.
In February, more than 100 state lawmakers signed a letter to Bendapudi, supporting the unionization attempt and asking Penn State to allow a free and fair process for faculty to form its union and bargain collectively.
