Major issues concerning the negotiation of a collective bargaining contract on February 1, 1981, at the National Autonomous Associations of Academic Personnel of the University (AAPAUNAM), the first legally authorized bargaining agent of the faculty. The contract was negotiated under terms of the recently enacted amendments to the federal constitution of Mexico. Legislation of 1929, 1933, and 1945 also is also reviewed because it defines the university as an autonomous public corporation, with full legal powers. The University Council was established by law as the supreme authority within the institution. Composed primarily of faculty and students elected by peers, and upper echelon administrators, the council was empowered to make final decisions on all important academic matters, select the rector (the equivalent of a university president in the United States), and determine the conditions of employment for faculty and academic personnel. The labor status of the university's academic personnel was clarified in the 1980 amendments to the federal constitution and the Federal Labor Law. Autonomy was substantially preserved and very little collegial authority was bargained away or delegated to the union. The University Council remains as the supreme academic authority. In negotiating this contract, which expires in 1982, many compromises were made not only between labor and management, but between the rival unions. The nature of these conflicting interests, which have political significance, is considered. (SW)