State universities throughout Pennsylvania may be dusting off and cracking open the book on union strikes this summer, now that faculty from the 14 state universities have threatened the first-ever strike if their already year-lapsed contracts aren’t renewed before classes start again in the fall.

Such a move would affect the faculty at both West Chester University and Cheyney University,  among others.

“Our goal is not to go on strike. It’s to get a fair contract,” union president Ken Mash said in a recent Philly.com report by Susan Snyder. But “if things do not progress and we ultimately take a strike authorization vote … not too much time will elapse before we set a strike date.”

Such a strike authorization vote is tentatively being proposed for August or September, Mash said in the article, though a strike itself isn’t likely until after the semester begins.

The state universities are scheduled to continue negotiations at least twice this month.

Read more about the languishing union negotiations at the state universities on Philly.com here.