Adjunct Professors Overwhelmingly Reject Unionization

Campaign to organize adjunct faculty members fails on a vote of 136 to 74.

A campaign to organize adjunct faculty has run aground at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, where independent instructors voted against forming a union.

After a hotly contested union election, the vote was 84 in favor and 136 opposed, according to union officials.

The results, announced late Monday, dealt a setback to organizers of Adjunct Action, an offshoot of the Service Employees International Union, who had hoped to build momentum for a statewide effort to improve pay and benefits for part-time instructors.