Macalester College adjunct faculty are one step closer to becoming unionized.

The private school contingent faculty members officially filed for a union election Thursday to join the Service Employees International Union as part of a national campaign to unionize adjunct instructors after continued concerns of low pay, little job security and a lack of benefits for the workers.

Macalester adjunct faculty and students gathered Thursday afternoon to celebrate Contingent Faculty Appreciation Week. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minneapolis also spoke at the event and voiced his support for the cause.

The contingent faculty mark the first in Minnesota who have attempted to unionize.