Resources
Campaign texts, faculty research, and examples from negotiated contracts.
Start here
Who is CFA?
Read CFA’s one-page orientation flyer: our campaign, priorities, and reasons for organizing.
Unionization CFAQ
Answers to questions about organizing, recognition, bargaining, membership, and dues.
Printable CFAQ (PDF)Know Your Rights
International faculty’s organizing rights and counsel’s guidance on authorization-card confidentiality.
Campaign research
The Union Difference
UICUF’s contract timeline, campus salary trends at UIUC and UIC, and average pay by academic title.
Read the four-page excerpt (PDF)
Sources and methods
Campus medians use IBHE records for professor, associate professor, and assistant professor titles and are adjusted to 2025 dollars using CPI-U. IBHE does not identify tenure status, department, or FTE. The by-title chart uses IPEDS equated nine-month averages for full-time instructional staff in 2024–25. The comparisons describe salary patterns and do not establish causation.
UIC vs. UIUC: Faculty staffing
A comparison of faculty staffing and student enrollment at UIC and UIUC from fall 2011 to 2024.
Sources and methods
IPEDS headcounts are compared with University staffing reports. Graduate assistants are excluded; campus totals include medical schools and employees outside bargaining units. The study distinguishes tenure-stream faculty, full-time non-tenure instructional faculty, and part-time instructional staff. The 2024 observations are provisional. This comparison cannot establish causation or guarantee future hiring.
What Faculty Unions Win
Eight issues. Three examples from negotiated faculty contracts in each flyer.
Download the print collection (PDF)Wages
$5,035 added to base pay
FY2023 flat increase, followed by 3.5% across-the-board raises in FY2024 and FY2026.
Payroll dates apply; excludes legacy BHSNJ; FY2025 merit is separate.
2022-2026 · Art. 8.A, Part One, I-IV · printed pp. 24-25$500,000 for salary equity
The first 2025 base-pay equity pool is at least $500,000, followed by annual pools of at least $300,000.
Individual award decisions are discretionary and not grievable.
2024-2027 · Sec. 26.9 · printed pp. 125$1,050 / $1,800 a month
Base-pay promotion increments: $1,050 from assistant to associate with tenure; $1,800 from associate to full.
A 12% prior-rank median formula applies instead if higher.
2024-2028 · Sec. 14.06 · printed pp. 63Academic Freedom
Freedom to research, publish and teach
The contract protects research and creative work, publication of results, and teaching inside and outside the classroom.
Professional standards and academic responsibilities still apply.
2025-2027 · Art. 5, Secs. 1-3 · printed pp. 7-8Protection for institutional criticism
Academic freedom expressly covers speaking about university policies, even outside formal governance bodies.
Stated competence, professional ethics and conduct limits apply.
2023-2026 · Sec. 2.2 · printed pp. 3A process to defend academic freedom
Faculty can seek review by an academic-freedom advisory committee and retain a contract grievance route.
The panel advises; its recommendation is not a binding ruling.
2025-2029 · Art. IX, B-C · printed pp. 17-18International Faculty Issues
University-paid visa fees
H-1B and J-1 application and renewal fees are covered, plus premium processing when unit paperwork delays cause missed deadlines.
Premium-processing coverage has that specific delay trigger.
2025-2027 · Art. 28, Secs. 4-5 · printed pp. 89-90Visa support includes family costs
Employer H-1B, E-3 and I-140 filing fees are covered, plus up to $500 in eligible visa or SEVIS reimbursements.
$500 is a lifetime employment cap and can include family fees.
2024-2029 · Art. 19, Sec. 14 · printed pp. 28Visa and residency sponsorship costs
The contract confirms legal and government cost support for tenure-system faculty and extends it to eligible NTT faculty and librarians.
University sponsorship requirements still apply.
2024-2027 · Sec. 27.17 · printed pp. 140Research Funding / Resource Allocation
Bridge funding between grants
For research faculty between grants, a pool of 1% of recovered overhead can fund up to nine months of essential salary and lab operations.
Awards are discretionary; no summer pay for 9-month faculty.
2024-2029 · Art. 17, Sec. 1 · printed pp. 21$150,000 in two research pools
Two $75,000 competitive grant pools reserve separate support for tenured and pre-tenure faculty.
A faculty committee recommends awards; allocations go to MSP.
2024-2027 · Art. XIX, E.4 · printed pp. 11435 summer research awards each year
The contract provides 35 faculty summer research awards annually, each carrying a $7,000 stipend.
Awards use the existing selection process; not automatic pay.
2023-2028 · Art. 24, D.1-3 · printed pp. 87Promotion & Tenure Protection
No student-rating score cutoffs
Departments and colleges cannot set minimum student-feedback scores as standards for review, promotion or tenure.
Student feedback may still be one factor; the contract sets limits.
2025-2028 · Secs. 15.16.1-4 · printed pp. 36Faculty-written review procedures
Department faculty approve tenure, promotion and renewal procedures by majority vote; final votes use secret ballots.
Some internal DPC procedures are excluded from grievances.
2025-2029 · Arts. X.A-B; XII.D.2.j-k · printed pp. 18-19, 26A route to appeal tenure denials
Specified factual or arbitrary-decision grounds can go to a review committee agreed by the union and university.
The committee reviews process; it does not rejudge academic merit.
2025-2027 · Art. 21, Secs. 1-6 · printed pp. 65-66Governance / Senate
A faculty vote on department leaders
Chair and director appointments and reappointments require a formal faculty advisory vote, communicated to the dean and provost.
This is an advisory vote, not a faculty veto over appointment.
2023-2026 · Sec. 5.9 · printed pp. 7-8A guaranteed role in unit policies
All unit faculty can participate in policy development and revision, with equitable tenure-track and career faculty participation.
The provost retains final authority; written procedures apply.
2025-2027 · Art. 4, Secs. 1-4 · printed pp. 4-5Senate and committee roles in writing
The CBA specifies elected Faculty Senate and faculty advisory committee roles in department, college and university academic affairs.
Advisory roles preserve final governing authority.
2019-2022 · Art. VI, Secs. 3-6 · printed pp. 10-16Tuition Benefits for Children
Tuition and nonresident fees covered
Remission for eligible unmarried dependents covers instructional fees and the nonresident surcharge.
Other fees and specified College of Medicine programs excluded.
2025-2028 · Art. 11, Secs. 11.1.1-2 · printed pp. 54-55Tuition remission for children
Eligible dependent children can receive tuition remission for undergraduate study at UVM or Vermont State Colleges.
One academic year of service; age, enrollment and time limits apply.
2024-2028 · Art. 20.5, b · printed pp. 111-112A second child can use the benefit
Faculty using a dependent undergraduate tuition discount can receive a second concurrent discount at the University of Oregon.
At least 0.50 FTE; program eligibility and discount terms apply.
2025-2027 · Art. 28, Secs. 1.b, 3 · printed pp. 89Grievance Process
Missed deadlines need not stop a case
If an administrator misses a written-response deadline, the grievant may move the case to the next step.
Faculty must still meet their own filing and appeal deadlines.
2023-2026 · Sec. 8.4; Art. VIII · printed pp. 11-15Grievance information in 7 working days
Employer-held information needed to investigate and process a grievance must be supplied on request within seven working days.
Applies to relevant information held by the employer.
2025-2029 · Art. XXIV, B.2 · printed pp. 51Rights can continue after employment
Former employees, or TAUP acting for them, can still pursue timely grievances and arbitration after employment ends.
The grievance must otherwise satisfy the contract time limits.
2023-2028 · Art. 9, F · printed pp. 12Further reading and sources
Reports
- AAUP Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2025-26
National faculty compensation, benefits, and administrator-pay context.
- National Center 2024 Directory of Bargaining Agents and Contracts in Institutions of Higher Education
A directory of higher-education bargaining relationships and contracts.
- Academic Freedom and Collective Bargaining
Research on academic freedom and collective bargaining.
- AAUP Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities
Professional principles for shared governance.
Academic publications
- Every Grain of Sand: 2024 Changes to the Scope of Higher Education Unionization
A research note on changes in higher-education unionization during 2024.
- Strategies in Bargaining Faculty Retrenchment Provisions
Case-based research on implementing retrenchment provisions.
UIUC finances
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Financial Analysis
- UIUC Financial Analysis: presentation slides
International faculty and academic freedom
- Immigration & Higher Education: The Union Perspective
Presentation and discussion concerning international faculty and organizing.
- Navigating Doxxing and Threats to Academic Freedom
Campaign resources on responding to threats to academic freedom.
Questions or a request for printed materials? Contact CFA.