Faculty Forward Union to Strike on May Day Following April 28 Negotiations

The Faculty Forward LUC Union met with Loyola’s administration and bargaining committee once again April 28 to attempt to negotiate a fair contract for Loyola non-tenure faculty. Since demands weren’t met by the university, the union has authorized a strike for May 1 — the penultimate day of finals week. 

The bargaining took place from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. April 28 virtually, and the union said they will strike on May Day, an international worker’s holiday celebrated May 1. The strike day will include a picket line, wherein workers and students will protest to awareness.

The university bargaining team reiterated concerns related to their original requests, followed by faculty breaking off into a caucus. The university said they wanted to “get back to faculty” and meet once again May 12, according to senior lecturer in the biology department Emma Feeney. 

Union members are demanding pay increases, improvements in parental leave policies for part-time faculty and more manageable workloads, The Phoenix reported. Previously, the union voted to authorize a strike for April 21, but chose to instead host a six-hour rally to put pressure on the university. 

The negotiations are part of the third collective bargaining agreement covering College of Arts and Sciences non‑tenure‑track full‑time and part‑time faculty, The Phoenix reported. The April 28 bargaining meeting was the 38th session since negotiations began in February 2025, according to union, SEIU Local 73. 

As a faculty member at Loyola for nearly 18 years, Feeney said there’s a lot on faculty’s plate regarding workload.

“I feel like a lot of us are asked to do a lot of unpaid labor, and then, you know, the strike is going to be a challenge for everybody,” Feeney said. “We realize that this is not something we undertook lightly making this decision.”

Despite the disruptions students may face on Friday, Feeney said faculty are committed to their students and are willing to work to navigate an alternative plan.

Feeney referenced addressing faculty needs before students’ through an “airplane analogy,” where “you have to put the oxygen on yourself before you help someone else.”

“If you have faculty who are part timers, who are having to work at lots of different places, they maybe can’t give the time that they need to give to students at any one individual place,” Feeney said. “So if we can raise compensation, then maybe they don’t have to work in as many places part time.”

Feeney said the university has been representing the same thing “over and over” for the past several counter proposals. She said there’s been “slight tweaks,” but faculty have interpreted the changes as lateral shifts in money within the contract.

“We’re people too,” Feeney said. “We’re trying to do this because, you know, we have families to support, we have students to support, and we want a contract so that we can do both.”

Negotiations will continue throughout the summer, according to Feeney.