ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we reflect back on this 50-year discussion about the relationship between shared governance and faculty unions, exploring the empirical literature on the topic which is scant. Shared governance and unionization have long been considered incompatible and seen as emerging from very different views of the role of faculty within their institutions and the ways they accomplish influence and help to define professional working conditions. In examining the empirical research, the notion that these processes are wholly incompatible or completely compatible are brought into question. Instead, studies that examine the process in detail identify ways that they are both complementary and supportive of each other but can at times be at odds with each other. And we conclude that few universal recommendations can be made, situations change based on context and time period.
