The History Books Tell It? Collective Bargaining in Higher Education in the 1940s

This article presents a history of unionization and collective bargaining in higher education during and just after World War II, decades before the establishment of statutory frameworks for labor representation. It examines the collective bargaining program adopted by the University of Illinois in 1945, along with contracts negotiated at other institutions, which demonstrated support for employee self-organization. It will also presents counter-examples of institutions using the courts and congressional investigators to defeat unionization efforts. . Lastly, the article will examine the role of United Public Workers of America (UPWA) and its predecessor unions in organizing and negotiating on behalf of faculty, teachers, instructors and staff on campus. The first known collective agreements applicable to faculty, teachers and instructors were negotiated by those unions before UPWA was destroyed during the domestic Cold War