As a union, we are part of a long history of workers organizing collectively to pressure bosses for fair work conditions and fair wages. After decades of sometimes violent struggle in which unions were not legal, organized workers gained the legal right to organize and bargain collectively in the US in the 1930s as part of the extensive social policies of the New Deal.

Union membership and power during the 20th century was centered on the trades and manufacturing (think of auto plants, steel mills, etc.). As the global economy has shifted manufacturing away from the US, unionization rates in the US have declined as well.

The strongest area of unionization in recent decades has been public sector unions representing teachers and other government workers, like us. Vibrant labor organizing has been going on in the service sector, for example, the Fight for 15 movement led by fast food workers, the strike by hotel workers in 2018, and other low-wage workers.

Educators in Illinois were on the forefront of organizing. Teachers have organized into professional associations since the 19th century, but began unionizing right here in Chicago in 1914, forming the American Federation of Teachers. Urban teachers were more likely to join with the wider labor movement. You can read more about this on the Labor and Working Class History website.

UPI is the result of faculty organizing in the 1960s and 1970s at NEIU and other universities in Illinois.

1934 – First collective bargaining with teachers was in Illinois

1968 — Professors at NEIU and Chicago State waged a 15 day strike against BOG

1975 – NEIU union membership over 200

1976 – Certification of union BOG Local 3500 of AFT Faculty Federation

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2004 – Strike by UPI at NEIU