Faculty and staff unions representing workers at 125 campuses across the Northeast signed onto the “Amherst Compact,” a coordinated bargaining and collaboration effort aimed at shared contract priorities across union affiliations and state lines. Organized through Higher Education Labor United (HELU), the compact is described by experts as a first-of-its-kind structure in higher education. Unions in nine states—Connecticut through Vermont—represent categories including custodial, security, teaching, postdoctoral, and other workers as well as student roles. The compact lists goals around compensation, job security, health care, paid leave, professional development, career advancement, academic freedom, and AI in the workplace. Rutgers American Association of University Professors–AAUP-AFT President Rebecca Givan emphasized that unions should mirror how college leaders and attorneys coordinate through associations. HELU’s national chair Levin Kim framed the signing as an attempt to set industry standards for bargaining priorities. The effort arrives as academic unionization grows and higher education faces declining enrollment, funding cuts, and intensified public scrutiny over the value of degrees—making labor coordination a strategic response to sector instability.