About

We are a democratic union, devoted to member involvement and participation. The members elect our Officers (President, Vice President, and Treasurer) and Constituency Councils, who in turn select representatives to our Executive Committee. Our elected leaders volunteer their time, with minimal recompense, to make our organization effective. We maintain an office with a professional staff on Temple’s main campus in Ritter Annex Room 721.

The TAUP (local 4531) is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) , AFT Pennsylvania (AFTPA), and the AFL-CIO. We were established by an overwhelming vote of the faculty and staff in 1972 and certified as the official bargaining agent by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board in July 1973. Since then, we have negotiated 11 collective bargaining agreements with Temple’s administration. Our collective agreement covers salaries, merit pay , benefits , retirement , working conditions , and rights . The contract guarantees faculty participation in formulating University educational policy. It sets standards and procedures governing tenure and promotion. It allocates paid leaves for research and study for tenured and untenured faculty. It provides a strong grievance procedure . Our union protects academic freedom and faculty governance.

We uphold the ideals of Opportunity, Quality, and Accountability, stated in the AFT’s First Principles, a Commonsense Agenda for Higher Education. In fact, we have adapted these ideals into our document First Principles, a Commonsense Agenda for Temple University. We care about the historic mission of Temple University and our obligations to our students and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We are a union of professionals.