CHICAGO (CBS/WBBM) – A move is afoot to unionize teachers and others at a the University of Illinois at Chicago.

As WBBM Newsradio 780′s David Roe reports, a petition was filed last week by faculty and staff at UIC. The petition is now under review by the Illinois Educational Labor Relations board, according to the Chicago News Cooperative.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780′s David Roe reports

Organizers require 50 percent of eligible employees plus one to form a bargaining unit, the News Cooperative reported.

Representatives of the UIC United Faculty campaign, which has been organizing the move to unionize, delivered authorization cards to the state board late last month, according to a news release.

The union includes contingent faculty, who are not under the tenure system and are currently hired and employed at will, the news release said. Unionization will give them “the legal right to fair treatment and due process, thereby giving them the academic freedom to vigorously express their views,” the release said.

The organizing effort is being conducted in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and the American Association of University Professors.