Maryland Institute College of Art Vote to Join SEIU Local 500

Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) adjuncts voted overwhelmingly to form their union with SEIU Local 500, joining a national movement of adjunct faculty uniting to raise standards in higher education.The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced the vote count was 163 to 75 on Tuesday, April 29.Katherine Kavanaugh, an adjunct at MICA, was thrilled at the victory and ready for the next steps. She said, “Today’s victory came after nearly three years of listening to the stories and concerns of many adjuncts. Following several …

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The High Cost of Adjunct Living: St. Louis

Quickly rising tuition has resulted in record levels of student debt, putting higher education out of reach for more and more working families.At the same time, universities are shifting resources away from instruction. Today, more than two-thirds of all faculty work on a contingent basis, facing low pay and no benefits or job security. Many do not even have access to basic facilities such as office space, making it increasingly difficult for adjuncts to do their best for their students.Being a university professor, once the …

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Macalester, Hamline Contingent Faculty Unite, File for Union Election

Adjunct and contingent faculty at Macalester College and Hamline University in St. Paul announced that they have filed for their union election to join Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 284 as part of the national Adjunct Action campaign. The faculty announced the filing at an event with students and Congressman Keith Ellison that capped off a student-led “Contingent Faculty Appreciation Week,” at Macalester Collge that was covered in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, University of Minnesota Daily and Minnesota Public Radio.Adjunct and contingent faculty spoke …

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Diane Rehm Show Profiles Adjunct Working Conditions, Unions

Adjunct union organizing and working conditions were featured on the Wednesday, April 16th broadcast of the Diane Rehm show. Show guests included Maria Maisto of the New Faculty Majority, the Chronicle of Higher Education’s senior reporter Peter Schmidt, who recently wrote the aptly named article, “Power in Numbers“, about Adjunct Action campaigns in Boston, plus guest administrators from American University (where adjuncts are united in SEIU Local 500) and Kansas State University.

You’ll want to hear and share this important hour-long discussion about how adjunct faculty …

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St. Louis Adjunct Faculty Discuss Higher Education, Unions at Symposium

This spring, adjunct faculty across the country are forming unions in order to raise workplace standards and build a national movement in higher education. On Saturday, April 12, 50 faculty from 10 St. Louis area colleges and universities met at the Missouri History Museum to build on the momentum they are creating to win a voice in their profession and to reverse the trend of low pay, few benefits and little job security.

“Adjuncts are teaching the majority of classes at many universities, yet …

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Boston City Council Unanimously Passes Resolution Supporting Good Jobs for Adjunct Instructors

Adjunct faculty from Boston University and Northeastern University receive a Boston City Council resolution that calls for fair wages and a free and fair union elections.

On Friday, the Boston City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of adjunct instructors, calling for colleges and universities in the Boston area to improve pay and benefits for adjunct instructors and to also allow them to unionize without interference.

“The current system for paying adjunct professors is hurting these individuals and their families

but also the …

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RSVP for the St. Louis Adjunct Symposium on April 12

Saturday, April 12th, adjuncts from across the St. Louis metro area are coming together at the Missouri History Museum to discuss the most pressing issues facing contingent faculty: fair pay, job security, and the lack of voice within the university system.

You’re invited. Click here to RSVP.

The symposium will include panels on the contingent academic workforce and contingent faculty organizing, a discussion of campus organizing, and a number of speakers. It runs from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Adjunct Action is a …

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Howard University, Maryland Institute College of Art Adjuncts File for Union Elections

On March 7th, adjunct faculty at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore filed for a union election and to join the SEIU Local 500 Coalition of Academic Labor. It’s another step forward in the movement to form adjunct faculty unions across America.

The news follows up a huge victory for Lesley University adjuncts in Boston who voted 84 percent to join SEIU/Adjunct Action. In the past two weeks, contingent faculty at Seattle University have also …

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USC’s Annenberg Radio: “Adjunct professors call for higher wages and benefits nationwide”

Part-time faculty members are forming unions across the country helping to build a movement in higher education to strengthen our profession. The University of Southern California’s Annenberg Radio Network profiled SEIU/Adjunct Action campaigns both in LA and around the nation this week and interviewed Loyola Marymount University adjunct instructor Emily Hallock.

Check it out below

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Lesley University Adjunct Faculty Vote to Form Union, Join Colleagues at Tufts in Adjunct Action/SEIU

Joining part-time lecturers at Tufts University, Lesley University adjunct faculty have resoundingly voted to join SEIU.

Adjuncts teaching across Lesley’s four campuses stood together and overwhelmingly supported a union on campus by voting 359 to 67 to join SEIU. The votes for the all-mail ballot election were counted at the Boston office of the National Labor Relations Board on Monday.

The win reflects an 84 percent vote in favor of forming a union – a landslide victory for adjuncts, and the entire Lesley community.

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