AFT #ADJUNCT/CONTINGENT FACULTY CAUCUS

If you are planning to attend the AFT Convention from July 11-14 in Los Angeles, and you are adjunct faculty or contingent faculty, please come to the brand new caucus meeting on Saturday, July 12 from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM in Room 407 of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

This will be an organizing meeting where the purpose and mission of the Caucus will be defined. We will be establishing committees to work on the formal By-Laws and proposed resolutions for the future.

We also plan to create a steering committee of local leaders all over the country to drive the agenda between conventions.

Bill Lipkin, Acting President

AFT Adjunct/Contingent Faculty Caucus

a list of conferences, symposia & so forth

…for #adjuncts &al—adios Chicago…viva Baltimore & St Louis

April 11- 13: AFT National Higher Education Issues Conference: Reclaiming the Promise of HigherEd, Baltimore (agenda)

l-r: NFM Board Member Bill Lipkin, his UAF-NJ colleagues and board members 
Dave McClure and Lynne Cummins, with Randi Weingarten

Plus April 12! St. Louis Adjunct Symposium (SEIU). Livestream archived here.

Next on deck: Adjunct Symposium in Philadelphia (United Academics of Philadelphia, AFT), Saturday April 19th. Whether you are an adjunct or just someone who cares, come join us!

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.

Quick Reference Guide For Parents on the College Search

Cross-posted at the Adjunct Project.

Many of us have been suggesting for awhile now that, in order for adjuncts to continue gaining momentum, we need to get the issue out into the public eye. We need to get parents and students on our side, or at least make them aware of the situation. Obviously, the mainstream media attention we have begun to garner is helping in that endeavor. The more we dispel the myth that all college professors are overpaid and underworked (ha!), the better off we will be when it comes to gaining public support for our mission.

Which is why I was particularly heartened by an email I received this week from the parent of a high school senior. In the email, this parent astutely asserts that she is affected by colleges' exploitative practices because she is a "future consumer."


Very true, and well-said. Business practices affect the consumer, whether he or she is willing to recognize it or not. This parent is clearly one who seeks to explore these practices before she patronizes the school. She is exactly the kind of parent to whom we should appeal.

New admin in the college workplace: just not getting it

SOMETIMES I THINK NOBODY GETS IT

At my community college we have a relatively new upper administration. The President is just finishing her 2nd year and the Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA) just finished her first year here. Neither one has strong academic background and the VPAA has not yet learned the 'culture' of the College. For example in the Spring semester, she cancelled classes with 9 and 10 students in them (some were required for the students to graduate) and then complained that enrollment was down! 

Campus Equity Week in New Jersey, #CEW2011

Great day today at Union County College in Cranford New Jersey. Our AFT Local's Executive Board hosted a 5 hour marathon for Campus Equity Week in the main hallway of the main building.

Within the first 2 hours we gave away over 100 AFT "I Make a Difference Every Day" T-shirts while the Board wore our Scarlet Letter 'A' is for \Adjunct t-shirts. By the end of the day we went through several large urns of coffee, about 300 cookies and pastries, and a lot of explanation to students about how the adjuncts add to the success of the students.

Yours truly, Bill Lipkin, far left

We harvested over 500 signatures on our petition for proportional compensation for adjunct faculty. The President of the College and several of the VPs actually joined us for a short time and shared cups of coffee. The chapter Executive Board of AAUP (our full time faculty) actually sat at our tables for most of the day to show support for us.

If nothing else, with all of our signs and posters, we did make a statement, and hopefully we can build off of the start we made today for equity for adjuncts.

AdCons celebrate: CMU & AFT reach agreement

For Immediate Release, June 30, 2010 [pictures & video]

Central Michigan University and Union Reach Agreement on Bargaining Group Makeup

Adjunct Faculty and Supporters Will Hold Rally Today To Celebrate Agreement

MOUNT PLEASANT, MICH.—Following four months of negotiations, Central Michigan University and the American Federation of Teachers have agreed on which nontenure-track faculty members will be recognized as members of a potential new bargaining unit. The adjunct faculty and their supporters, who had planned a protest rally for today, will still hold a rally at 11 o’clock this morning near the library on the Mount Pleasant campus to celebrate the agreement.

Under the agreement, nontenure-track faculty who teach quarter time or more, with some exceptions, are eligible for representation.

“The process that resulted in this agreement took time, as the administration and the union gathered all of the information necessary to craft an agreement that both parties found acceptable,” said AFT Michigan President David Hecker. “What counts is that we were able to reach this agreement. We look forward to a successful election and to joining with the administration to further enhance this great university.”

CMU was notified in early March by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission that nontenure-track faculty had filed for union certification.

“We are ecstatic about the opportunity to vote for union representation, and we look forward to a collaborative relationship with President Ross and the CMU administration,” said Mary Ann Freling, an adjunct professor who has worked for two decades in the English department.

Ray Christie, vice provost for academic administration, said: “Central Michigan University has a long-standing and well-established positive relationship with collective bargaining units, and values the dedication, contributions and commitment of our faculty and staff toward the success of our students.”

A unionization vote will be scheduled as the next step in the process. CMU will withdraw its request with MERC for a hearing on the matter. 


Across Michigan, thousands of nontenure-track faculty have formed unions or are in the process of doing so, including faculty at the University of Michigan, Ferris State University, Henry Ford Community College, Wayne State University, Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University and Western Michigan University.

via Jon Curtiss, jcurtiss@aftmichigan.org. Organizer, AFT Michigan, AFL-CIO, (734) 358-7004

CMU adjuncts threatened with arrest!

We've been following the ups and downs of Michigan adcon organizing and writing CMU President Ross so often we ought to be on a first name basis with George. As far as we, he hasn't budged on not-rehiring long time lecturer and union organizer Kristin Herald. Now he's threatening to arrest adjuncts.

Raye Robertson over at The Adjunct Voice sent us a heads up ~

 "You might have seen the news from AFT already, but if not, here's an alarming post regarding adjuncts there being threatened with arrest for their unionizing efforts. Spreading the word, sending postcards, letters, emails to their administration would, I'm sure, be appreciated. UPTF (Wayne State) will be highlighting CMU's situation at the Adjuncts United march to the U.S. Social Forum on June 22, too. More info will be forthcoming soon about that! Here's AFTFACE on CMU"

A call to write seems in order. Who in admin should we be writing? President, others in CMU admin, state board of regents, anyone and everyone we can think of? Write the Union of Teaching Faculty to show your supportWho else can you think of? Is local press covering this? College press? Letters to editors?

• CMU President's page
• Board of Trustees
• Trustee email addresses
• CMU Directories
• Union of Reaching Faculty

Write:

Dr. George E. Ross, President

Central Michigan University 

Warriner Hall 106
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 

Email: ross1ge@cmich.edu

AFT Action Alert: Bank on Students

Money for banks or to invest in students and institutions? Which is the better investment? Reblogged from AFT / FACE Talk, Thursday, 11 March 2010

Call NOW! 866/327-8670  Tell your senators:  include student loan reform  in reconciliation bill Stop. Go to your phone and contact your Senator right this minute.  Why? Because right now, the Senate is in a serious debate, the outcome of which could jeopardize the fate of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act.  Republican Senators and key Democratic Senators are opposing the inclusion of SAFRA in the reconciliation process.  But as Rep. George Miller stated today, the choice is clear:

Article on EMU Campaign

A 'Nice Experience' or a Job? Lecturers at Michigan School Say Part-Timers Need a Union, Too,
by Ken Wachsberger in Labor Notes, 02/24/2010. via Jon Curtis, AFT Michigan  

The university, whose specialty is educating future teachers and whose slogan is "Education First," has hired a team of high-priced lawyers to break the back of the drive, in part by creating divisions between full-time and part-time lecturers.

The Adjunct Lecturers' Organizing Committee (ALOC) has gathered signatures from a super-majority of part-timers who are teaching this semester, according to AFT organizer Greg Pratt. They've filed a petition with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission for an election to be held before the winter semester ends May 4. Three out of four part-time lecturers approached by ALOC organizers have signed. According to ALOC data, EMU employs about 450 part-time adjunct lecturers every semester, who teach more than one-third of classes.

The demands of EMU part-timers for equality are being echoed at the national level: a coalition of academic associations, including the AFT, released a report February 10 calling on universities to treat all their teachers as "one faculty"—which means extending health and retirement benefits and making pay equitable for those not on the tenure track. The joint paper notes that nationally, one-third of teachers not on the tenure track have been in their jobs at least five years, but schools insist on "outdated personnel and compensation policies that assume non-tenure-track faculty members are short-term employees who will make up only a small proportion of the faculty." Union organizing efforts across the country are challenging this unequal set-up.

WHO BELONGS?
At EMU, the administration has refused to recognize part-timers as worthwhile members of the university community.

Central Michigan University Nontenure-Track Faculty Form Union

Mount Pleasant, MI – A majority of the nontenure-track faculty at Central Michigan University filed for a union representation election with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC). The Union of Teaching Faculty (UTF) will negotiate job security, salary increases, health insurance, and professional development issues with the university administration. The representation petition and membership cards were filed with MERC on Tuesday, February 23, 2010. UTF is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a group that represents more than 6,500 higher education faculty across the state.

"We are one of the few groups on campus without collective bargaining rights,” said Mary Ann Freling, an English instructor at the university. "As a union, we'll have the right to meet on a more equal footing with the administration and discuss the issues that affect us, our students, and the university as a whole."

Full- and part-time nontenure-track faculty teach close to half of undergraduate credit hours at the university, mostly in introductory courses. These positions are filled by skilled teachers with many years of experience, with degrees from masters to the doctoral, who teach at a fraction of the pay level of their tenure-track colleagues. Moreover, they receive reduced benefits, have little job security, and often don’t have input on important departmental decisions.

"Job security is a major issue for nontenure-track instructors," said Tom Stewart, instructor in the Political Science Department. I have taught at CMU for 17 years now, and I’m still uncertain if I’ll have a position next semester. We commit ourselves 100% to our students, but the university won't commit to us beyond a semester or year at a time."

“We are looking for fair compensation and simple respect,” says Jim Eikrem, instructor in the Communications and Dramatic Arts Department. “Whether full- or part-time, all CMU faculty deserve a fair wage, job security, and the respect that comes with being treated fairly. The university and its students benefit by having more teachers committed to CMU and its educational mission, rather than the rapid turnover that accompanies temporary contracts.”

CMU undergraduate Jerad Taber, son of nontenure-track faculty member Cassie Taber, was shocked to find that many instructors were making less than high school teachers: salaries for public school teachers in Michigan start at $35,000 and average approximately $50,000.

“This is an issue of fairness and equality,” said Taber. “‘Temporary’ instructors are being taken advantage of, and deserve to have a voice. We as students receive the same quality education whether our instructor is tenured or not. Some of these instructors have been here for decades – calling them ‘temporary’ faculty is an oxymoron.”

The union anticipates meeting with the university administration and a MERC representative in a few weeks to agree on a date for the election. “We hope to have a positive relationship with the administration since our mutual goal is to make CMU a better place for students and faculty alike. Nontenure-track faculty continue to be a valuable resource to the university in providing quality yet cost effective instruction, and hope to be treated with the respect and the professionalism we deserve,” states Freling, adjunct faculty since 1987.

from Jon Curtiss , for immediate release, February 23, 2010

Resources: AFT/FACE

The American Federation of Teachers' Faculty and College Excellence campaign's blog (link below), provides an ongoing discussion of issues relating to contingents and, in its new "Reversing the Course" document, recent (Fall 2008) information drawn from U.S. Department of Education compilations of data nationwide. As with A.A.U.P. documents, you might draw from these to underscore the situation of adjuncts locally.

http://www.aftface.org/

Resources: AAUP info on adjuncts

The American of Association of University Professors has been studying the use of contingent (i.e. non-tenurable, both full- and part-time) faculty since 1980, when it traced to financial crises of the early 1970's what's now the established practice of hiring such faculty to cover courses without commitment to them. The link below leads to many more recent documents -- compilations of nationwide information and policy statements -- from which you might draw to support your local case:

http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/issues/contingent/resources.htm