Election Information:
When: Wednesday, March 5 and Thursday, March 6 between 11am – 2pm and 4pm – 7pm
Where: For Regular Faculty, Special Faculty, and Staff: A210 (old HR room) at CalArts Main Campus; For Staff only: Meeting Room H at Downtown LA Office
Who: all Regular Faculty, Special Faculty, and Staff, part-time and full-time.
You are more than your vote, you are the future CalArts!
Employees who are fully remote or on approved leave will be mailed a ballot on March 5, 2025. For those eligible to vote by mail, the last day for ballots to be received (not postmarked) by the National Labor Relations Board will be on Wednesday, March 26 by 5:00pm. If you do not receive a ballot in the mail by Friday, March 14, you can call the NLRB Region 31 office at (310) 235-7351 to request one.
If you have questions about your voting eligibility, take a look at our FAQ or reach out at info@calartsunited.org!
We have a clear choice in this election.
While we work across many different offices, Schools, and Divisions within the Institute, we are united by a desire to improve our working conditions as well as the quality of the educational experience and creative possibilities that CalArts offers. Like our colleagues across the country, through collective bargaining, we aim to make CalArts a stronger, more inclusive, and more equitable institution. Our union will consist of three bargaining units of Regular/Technical Faculty, Special Faculty, and Staff, yet our organizing and bargaining process remains united and closely coordinated.
If a majority of us vote “YES!” for our union (CalArts United-UAW) within our bargaining units, the CalArts administration will be legally obligated to join us at the bargaining table and negotiate with us on salaries, benefits, and workers’ rights, collaboratively developing and committing agreements to paper, in the form of binding contracts. Voting “YES!” in this election enables the contract negotiation phase to begin. If we win, we will elect a bargaining committee, determining and voting on which issues are our priorities within each unit, as well as collectively. Once we have reached tentative agreements with CalArts on all our issues, we will have the right to vote whether or not to ratify our first contracts. In other words: choosing to unionize means that you will have ongoing, direct voting power and a voice in each step of our process toward a better CalArts!
Through hundreds of conversations over the last few months, staff and faculty have expressed frustration with a range of issues, from stagnant salaries, increasing workloads, convoluted and ineffective benefits, threats to job security, and a lack of transparency in administrative policies and decision making. Securing the terms of our compensation, benefits and working conditions through a collective bargaining agreement will prevent CalArts from making changes that impact our work experience and quality of life without our consent. With strong participation and support from the entire CalArts staff and faculty community, we can bargain for a fair union contract that makes needed improvements to our working conditions.
How we got here
After a cross-campus delegation of CalArts employees hand-delivered a letter to President Ravi Rajan’s office on December 3, CalArts’ General Counsel responded that they refuse to stipulate to an election for a single wall-to-wall unit and would instead pursue a series of legal objections that would have required a National Relations Labor Board hearing, potentially delaying a fair election for months. While a single bargaining unit for all staff and faculty was our hard-fought goal, the Organizing Committee, after conversations with card signers across the institute, chose to make this strategic concession and not delay the vote. We recognized that postponing would needlessly expend time and energy before the union is certified and the far more challenging work of negotiating our first contracts begins. Additionally, a hearing under Trump’s employer-friendly National Labor Relations Board risked resulting in a decision that could have curtailed collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of academic workers across the country.
With these possibilities in mind, the Organizing Committee agreed to three separate bargaining units for Staff, Regular Faculty, and Special Faculty on the condition of a shared bargaining table for issues that impact all employees. In return, CalArts made a significant concession by drastically reducing the number of employees that the Administration would challenge as “supervisory” —though they did not agree to include CAP and Extended Studies Instructors who are not otherwise also employed as CalArts faculty. The remaining employees challenged by CalArts as “supervisory” will still be eligible to vote and their inclusion in the bargaining units will be resolved after the election.
CalArts Faculty and Staff delivered letters urging CalArts to remain neutral and not to interfere with workers’ right to make our own decisions on unionization.
Joining UAW and Unions in Higher Education
In Spring 2024, after seeing the success of unionization efforts by other academic workers at CalArts and around the country, a group of faculty and staff reached out to UAW for help forming a union. Being part of a larger national union, along with over 100,000 other academic employees, ensures that staff and faculty have access to the resources and expertise necessary to negotiate with CalArts. As part of UAW, we will elect our own union bargaining team, negotiate towards an agreement with CalArts over our working conditions, and vote on our own union contract.
Over 100,000 other academic workers across the country – including fellow full-time non-tenure track faculty, adjunct faculty, higher ed staff, graduate employees, postdocs, and research scientists – have also chosen to become part of the UAW and bargain collectively for stronger protections and improvements. Taken together, this is driving rapid improvements in higher education like higher wages, improved healthcare benefits, protections from discrimination, sexual harassment, and abusive conduct, better job security, parental leave and childcare support, and more support for international scholars. That’s why our colleagues across CalArts are voting “yes” so we can build a stronger collective voice and bargain together to make the improvements that are important to us at CalArts. Together, we can make our workplace better for ALL workers.
More on Unionized workers making a national impact:
Gallup: More in U.S. See Unions Strengthening and Want It That Way
Data Snapshot: Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education
Scenes from Hollywood’s Hot Labor Summer
Union Election FAQs
Your Title Goes Here
Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.
Who is eligible to vote?
All Regular Staff, Special Faculty, and Staff are eligible to vote. Some positions, such as Program Directors and Program Managers, are being challenged by CalArts as “supervisory.” Employees challenged by CalArts as “supervisory” will still be eligible to vote, and their inclusion in the bargaining units will be resolved after the election. Full information about the stipulated election agreements can be found here: Regular Faculty, Special Faculty, and Staff.
What does it mean to vote under challenge?
This is a legal term for a category of voters whose eligibility is not agreed upon between CalArts-United and the California Institute of the Arts. In other words, CalArts does not agree that these employees should be part of the union. Challenged individuals can vote in the same way as non-challenged individuals. However, challenged ballots will only be counted if they are outcome determinative (that is, if the number of challenged ballots cast is greater than the difference between non-challenged Yes and No votes).
How do I vote?
Regular Faculty, Special Faculty, and Staff will vote in person on Wednesday, March 5 or Thursday, March 6 at the Main Campus in Room A200 (the previous location of the HR office – see walkthrough video to A210) between 11am – 2pm and 4pm – 7pm.
CalArts Staff members (and CalArts Staff members only) may vote in person on the Main Campus or at the CalArts Downtown LA Office at the same dates and times.
Employees who are fully remote and/or on approved leave will be permitted to vote by mail, with ballots automatically mailed to them on March 5, which must be returned and received by the NLRB by March 26th at 5pm. If you are eligible to vote by mail and do not receive a ballot in the mail by Friday, March 14, you can call the NLRB Region 31 office at (310) 235-7351 to request one.
Is the election decided by a simple majority of those voting?
Yes, for each unit, the election will be decided by a simple majority of those voting. We encourage every eligible voter to make your voice heard. A strong “yes” vote in advance of bargaining creates more momentum and a mandate for negotiating a strong contract.
When will we know the results?
The ballot count will happen at the NLRB Region 31 office on Thursday, March 27, 2025, beginning at 10am. We will announce the result shortly after the count concludes.
What happens after the vote?
Once we win our union election, CalArts will have a legal obligation to bargain with Regular Faculty, Special Faculty, and Staff over the terms and conditions of our work.