The faculty union representing instructors at Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities voted today to hold campus-specific strike authorization votes early next month.

The announcement from the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Professors means that campus-by-campus balloting will take place from Sept. 7 to Sept. 9.

Votes will be cast on whether to give union leaders the authority to call a strike. The union's membership includes 475 professors and 30 coaches at Slippery Rock University. The 500 coaches represented by the union will hold their own strike authorization vote between Sept. 14 and Sept. 15.

The news comes as classes for the 107,000-student state system are scheduled to start Monday, and negotiators from APSCUF and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education sat down today for yet another two-day bargaining session.

The union's 5,500 faculty members have been working without a contract since the old collective bargaining agreement expired on June 30, 2015.