The transformation of the university community in the context of the crisis of higher education has affected the state of university trade unions - the most important institution for the saving and development of social partnership in higher education. There is a decrease in the number of members of trade union organizations in universities, and confidence in its ability to represent and protect the rights and interests of university employees is decreasing. At the same time, there is an objective need for such a social institution, loyalty and involvement of a part of the scientific and pedagogical community in trade union life. The purpose of the article is to systematize ideas about the motivation of membership of scientific and pedagogical workers in university trade unions and the conditions for its preservation in the process of transformation of the trade union movement in higher education. The results presented in the article were obtained during the sociological study «The role of trade unions in the university community», carried out by the authors in January-March 2023 at two universities of the Ural Federal University and Surgut State Pedagogical University. The method of online survey was used, n = 271 people, the sample was random (spontaneous selection). The only selection criterion was membership in the university trade union. The study showed the existence of discrepancies between the expectations of scientific and pedagogical workers to preserve the traditional role of the modern university trade union as a defender of the interests of workers and the real functions of trade unions, which turned out to be reduced to material and social support of employees at the expense of the potential of the trade union itself. It is shown that such a contrast of expectations and reality leads to a change in the motivation of membership of the key university community in the trade union and outflow from it. As a result, the fragmentation of the university community is increasing, intra-community ties are «thinning», the value of corporate and professional solidarity is devalued. The article presents the results of a study focused for the first time in recent years on the problems of university trade unions of universities of the Ural Federal District related to the motivation of membership in them. The novelty also lies in a comparative analysis of the motivation of employees of two universities, differing in the history of their trade unions, the number of scientific and pedagogical staff, the status of the university, its corporate culture and a set of social problems inherent in their employees.