NJ #adjunct union chapters react to revised #ACA regs

…When the revised IRSregulations came out last week on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) there was cause for reserved celebration at many County College adjunct local union chapters in New Jersey. Several of us have been fighting since last February to maintain our teaching loads while the Colleges have been trying to cut our courses in order to cover themselves on hours. 

Our leadership has been working very hard to maintain our income levels while preserving our dignity. Surveys among adjuncts in several County Colleges in NJ show that if we have to make a choice between healthcare access or maintaining our income level the income wins out with a 65% majority. We all agree that this is a horrible decision that we are forced to make, but that is they way it is in real life.

With the IRS now recognizing now that one for the reasonable methods may be a ratio of 1 1/4 hours outside of call for every hour in class (as long as we are not required to hold office hours) this gives us the opportunity to push for the 12 credit load. That would come to 27 hours based on this ratio. To those critics that claim we are demeaning ourselves and underestimating the work we actually do, I say 'you are correct'.

However, given the choices we have it appears that most of our members want to be able to eat, have a place to live, and be able to buy gas for their car. Many of our members have health insurance through Medicare, a retirement system, or their spouse, making the need for additional coverage redundant.Perhaps ACA should provide for exemptions for those of us who do not require the coverage.

We do not know yet how the revised regulations will play out with the colleges, but we will be using this in negotiations to try to convince the schools. I will keep you all informed.

Bill Lipkin

Can New Jersey Adjuncts Break Down a Stone Wall? by Bill Lipkin

On October 26, as part of the start of Campus Equity Week activities in New Jersey, United Adjunct Faculty of NJ held its Delegate Assembly meeting. Present were 68 delegates from 10 Community College Chapters and members of the AFTNJ Executive Board. A major focus of the Assembly was on the Affordable Care Act and how it was already affecting adjuncts in the state.

The State of New Jersey had issued a letter several weeks before concerning the ACA and the four year Colleges and Universities in NJ. This letter instructed HR directors to determine hours worked for adjuncts by crediting them 8 hours for every day they had a class on the campus. In other words if you had one Monday/Wednesday/Friday class (3 credits) that would count as 8 hours per day or 24 hours a week. You would not be able to teach on Tuesday or Thursday. We did convince the State how ridiculous this was since an adjunct would be able to teach all day on those three days, teaching 18 credits and still be credited with 24 hours a week. Plus this did not address on-line courses.

COMPROMISE BETWEEN COLLEGE AND ADJUNCTS

Since April our Union leadership has been in discussions with the administration of Union County College in New Jersey involving adjunct teaching loads in relation to the Affordable Care Act. At first these discussions were quite contentious, and our members were motivated to write letters to the editors of local newspapers and stage a threatened walk-out at a 'Adjunct Forum' where the administration was ready to take the hatchet and drastically reduce our teaching loads. The presence of local news reporters and health care experts from AFT National forced the administration to back off a little.

ACA, #adjuncts…enter the IRS

…assembling documents for a teleconference on our statement for the IRS hearing on calculating work hours and part time status, I created a Storify to include the document collection on Scribd, additional links and images. To call this is a can of worms would be an understatement…

ACA, Adjunct Faculty & USW, Pittsburgh

…the Adjunct Faculty Association of the United Steelworkers and the Battle of Homestead Foundation invite you to... A Community Conversation on The Affordable Care Act and Adjunct Faculty…March 6, 2013, 6:00-7:45pm at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh,  Squirrel Hill, Room B

This Community Conversation is Open to the Public

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), also known as “Obamacare,” goes into effect on January 1, 2014, with the goal of expanding healthcare coverage to all Americans.  But Pittsburgh’s colleges and universities are already setting up barriers to prevent their adjunct faculty from taking advantage of its provisions. The Community College of Allegheny County has decreased the number of courses an adjunct faculty member can teach per semester, making it even more difficult for the majority of CCAC’s teachers to earn a living. 

Obamacare, hours, strange math & unintended consequences

…as Bill Lipkin reflects on them, writing,

 

I would never have dreamed that the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obama care) would cause a hardship on adjuncts and other contingent faculty. This is supposed to help those who cannot afford health care get some basic coverage. But the 'unintended consequences' of this Act can be very detrimental to us. Yes, adjuncts stand to suffer from this Act. Why? Because when it goes into effect in January, 2014 it carries with it a stipulation that if an employer does not supply health care to employees working 30 hours or more a week they have to pay a penalty.

Storifying CC Allegheny County

…cutting course loads to duck covering adjuncts because it is the most effective tool for comprehensive coverage and to do justice an important story with its many voices and implications for the future of adjunct labor.

Could the Affordable Care Act Help Cure HigherEd of Adjunctivitis?

NFM VP Matt Williams explores the implications of the Affordable Care Act for Adjuncts at AkronAdjunct, reposted below in full.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld healthcare reform today, and the decision promises to change the landscape of the healthcare industry in America.  While much of the focus of the debate has been on the individual mandate, the employer mandate may have some surprising (and potentially positive) implications for the nation’s nearly 1 million adjunct faculty who often teach for poverty wages and are frequently denied access to employer sponsored health insurance. 

The controversial health care law includes an employer mandate that requires large employers (i.e., those with more than 50 full-time employees or full-time equivalents) to provide health insurance to its employees or pay a penalty.