In a deal that promises to accelerate labor organizing on campuses, the governing councils of the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers agreed to a formal affiliation that would unite nearly 316,000 academic employees.

“Organizing is expensive, and we haven’t had the capacity to organize as much as we wanted to,” said Irene Mulvey, president of the AAUP. “AFT has muscle and reach. This agreement is going to be a game-changer.”

College faculty are dealing with attacks on job security, demands for greater productivity and criticism over what and how they teach.

The planned affiliation of the two labor unions promises to expand their bargaining power by uniting full-time professors with part-time adjunct instructors, graduate assistants and others.

It’s part of a dramatic escalation in labor activism among university faculty at a time of increasing challenges. About 120 new faculty union chapters have won recognition since 2013.