Congratulations to the Faculty Alliance of Miami (FAM), which now has two bargaining units that have been certified by the State Employment Relations Board (SERB)!

The first bargaining unit, which won the right to representation on May 17 for full-time tenure-track and full-time non-tenure-track faculty (what Miami refers to as TCPLs–teaching and clinical professors and lecturers), was won with a 65% vote in favor of the union.

On June 14, the second bargaining unit–for Miami librarians–won by a unanimous 100% vote in favor of unionization. Due to a SERB decision that faculty and librarians could not be in the same unit, the librarians had to form what is technically a separate union but will also be represented by FAM.

FAM also plans to move forward with a unionization campaign for their Visiting Assistant Professors (VAPs), which SERB ruled are public employees under Ohio law and not “seasonal and casual employees” as the Miami University administration tried to argue.

Again, congratulations to the faculty at Miami! Unionization is hard work. This effort took years of dedication from faculty volunteers with support from AAUP and AFT, but the end result of being able to bargain contracts with the employer for the betterment of faculty, students, and the instructional mission of Miami University is well worth it!