Adjunct professors at the School of Cinematic Arts started voting Wednesday on whether or not to unionize. If a majority of the SCA adjuncts vote “YES,” the Adjunct Faculty Alliance-United Auto Workers will be recognized as a union, and the University will be required by law to negotiate with the adjunct professors on higher wages, benefits, job security and more. Voting will end Feb. 22.

In late November 2023, adjunct professors at SCA marched from the SCA Courtyard to Bovard Auditorium to deliver a letter to the Provost’s office, requesting that their union, the AFA-UAW, be recognized by the University. The same day, the AFA filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to begin the process of forming its union.

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While marching, professors had chanted slogans such as “tuition goes up every day, pay your professors at SCA” and “get up, get down, [Los Angeles] is a union town.” They handed out flyers explaining the reasons why they had gathered to form the union. 

“Without collective bargaining, we have experienced stagnant salaries, increasing workloads, vanishing benefits, threats to job security, and a lack of transparency in administrative policies,” the flyers read.