Why do some college professors join a union What are the adv

Solution

The main advantages of joining a union by professors are that they get to bargain collectively; unionisation is basically in response to violation of academic freedom, hence the union can place points, argue and bargain on significant issues which might involve salary, working conditions, faculty governance and procedural protections for academic freedom and tenure.

The arguments in favour of unions involve providing or solidifying a faculty voice in institutional decision-making, affecting salaries and salary disparities, improving the terms of faculty work, and providing formalized grievance procedures. In the face of negative environments and a lack of trust, unions can provide a means to reestablish and improve communication between faculty and administrators.

Points against unionization often relate to issues of professional authority and judgment, the belief that it will negatively affect collegiality, concerns about bureaucracy, and the fear of homogenization. So, where one person might say that a benefit of unionization is that it might provide greater consistency in salaries across disciplines, others might argue that that is a disadvantage that reduces institutional flexibility.