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Untenured faculty at LMU began building their unit, SEIU Local 721, in 2023. After the NLRB certified it, the bargaining team presented the university with nearly 40 proposals, spanning a range of labor issues.

The contract applies to about 200 non-tenure-track faculty in the university’s College of Arts and Sciences. It includes wage increases, back pay and job security based on seniority, according to Service Employees International Union Local 721.

Untenured faculty at Loyola Marymount University launched an unfair labor practice strike authorization vote this week following the school’s announcement that it will no longer recognize or bargain with the faculty union for a first contract. The union had been negotiating for a contract with LMU’s administration for about 10 months.

“Our collaboration landed this historic agreement, and it’s one that we’re extremely proud of,” said David Green, president and executive director of Service Employees International Union Local 721. “Together we’re saving critical frontline positions, boosting revenues through joint efforts with city leadership, and strengthening the vital services Angelenos depend on.”

“Let’s be clear: This action is illegal,” said David Green, president and executive director of SEIU 721. “[F]aculty members will fight this with everything we have. LMU messed with the wrong union.”

Non-tenure track (NTT) faculty represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 721 have expressed outrage following the University’s decision to invoke a religious exemption from the jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), no longer participating in collective bargaining or recognizing labor unions representing its employees for the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

“Our health should be a priority. We should want to combat the things that make us unhealthy: Diseases, tobacco, unhealthy foods,” said Peña, a member of Service Employees International Union Local 721. “It’s discouraging when the government doesn’t want to care for the health of the public.”

Non-tenure track faculty members at the Catholic school located just north of LAX overwhelmingly voted to certify with Service Employees International Union Local 721 in summer 2024.

The collective bargaining bill allows over 800,000 rideshare workers in California to join a union, a move described by David Green, president of SEIU Local 721, as “the largest expansion of private sector collective bargaining in California history.”

Alyssa Ellis is a student close to graduating from UCSB and interned at SEIU 721. “I’m not here to speak as an expert, but as a part of the next generation of the City,” she said. “I’ve had the chance to meet with so many City of Oxnard workers; people who keep Oxnard running. Who would have thought the backbone of Oxnard, the people who keep the City afloat, can barely afford to live here?”