Imperfect Paradise: How union organizing is being upended by private universities in Southern California

Norco 80

LAist Studios

True Crime

4.2 • 887 Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Big companies like Amazon and SpaceX are claiming that the National Labor Relations Board – an independent federal entity in charge of overseeing unionizing efforts – is unconstitutional. In addition to those companies, colleges like the University of Southern California and Loyola Marymount University are also joining the movement to push back against labor groups. If this movement succeeds, it could make unionizing harder on a broader level. LAist higher education reporter Julia Barajas joins us to talk about why these universities are seemingly working against faculty attempting to organize and what it could mean for unions at universities – and beyond – in the long term.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Samin Nasrat, author of Salt Fat Acid Heat. I'm doing a special live event co-presented by show intel and LAIS on October 18th at the United Theater on Broadway. Get tickets now at laisd.com slash events.
0:16.1	This Old House Radio Hour is your new home improvement podcast. In each episode, we answer your questions.
0:22.5	Whether you're fixing a leak, refinishing a floor, or restoring a century old house.
0:27.1	Our roster of experts have the answers to help you get the job done right.
0:30.7	This is in Perfect Paradise. I'm Antonio Serejido. There has been this push nationwide,
0:36.5	spearheaded by several big companies like Amazon and
0:39.3	SpaceX, claiming that the National Labor Relations Board, this independent federal entity in
0:44.6	charge of overseeing unionizing efforts, is unconstitutional. Given the history of corporate
0:50.5	entities, this is not that surprising. But what is surprising
0:54.2	is that private universities
0:55.8	like the University of Southern California
0:57.8	are joining those companies
0:59.9	in this fight.
1:01.4	Loyola Merrimount is even using
1:02.9	their religious affiliation
1:04.2	as a reason to not recognize
1:05.9	the university's new faculty union.
1:08.5	They just basically dropped a nuclear bomb
1:10.8	on the campus community.
1:15.9	If this movement to upend the Labor Relations Board succeeds, it could make unionizing
1:21.4	harder on a broader level, not just for employees at universities, but other companies
1:26.0	nationwide.
	...

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