Marist Adjuncts File for NLRB Election

Nearly three weeks after holding a press conference discussing their efforts to improve conditions, adjunct instructors at Marist College filed with the National Labor Relations Board today to form their union with SEIU/Adjunct Action. They seek a voice in their classrooms, a fair process for class reappointments and pay parity.Adjunct faculty at Marist College comprise the majority of professors at the school, but they are contingent employees, meaning they are hired semester to semester without job security, and paid an average of $3,000 per class.The …

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Chronicle Story on Metro Organizing Strategy

There’s a new article in The Chronicle of Higher Education today about Adjunct Action/SEIU’s metro-organizing strategy, focusing on the efforts of adjunct faculty who are organizing across the Boston-metro area.

“The thinking behind the approach holds that sufficient union saturation of a given local labor market will not only produce big gains at unionized colleges, but put nonunionized ones under pressure to treat adjuncts better, too. Those colleges might be prompted to improve pay or working conditions to be able to compete for talent or, in …

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Adjuncts are Forming a Union at Marist College

On April 9th Marist College Adjuncts held a press conference to talk about forming a union with Adjunct Action/ SEIU. Over 75 people came out to hear them speak up for a voice in shared governance, improved student learning outcomes, and building a stronger community at Marist. If there was one overall message of the day, it was that our working conditions as adjuncts impact student learning conditions. They had support from students, from full-time faculty, and from union members on the Marist …

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Webinar for Adjuncts with Student Debt on April 11

Adjunct Action has partnered with the Department of Education to offer you a webinar on student loan repayment plans, loan forgiveness, and the best strategies for paying back your loans. The webinar will be held on April 11th from 2 to 3 p.m. EST.

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Inside Higher Ed Article on launch of Adjunct Network

“Hoping to reach an estimated 1 million adjunct professors nationwide, Service Employees International Union on Monday officially launched its new Adjunct Action Network website. The union marked the occasion with a ‘national town hall’ event for adjuncts at Georgetown University here.”

Click here to read the full Inside Higher Ed article by Colleen Flaherty about the launch of the Adjunct Action Network.

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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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Adjunct Action Contributes to House Committee Report on Contingent Faculty in Higher Education

Adjunct Action gathered and submitted adjunct faculty stories for a new House Committee on Education and Workforce report called “The Just-In Time Professor” about the conditions for contingent faculty in higher education. In addition to many testimonials from adjuncts about their profession, the report notes the Georgetown administration’s commendable behavior — remaining neutral and allowing adjunct faculty to vote to form their union free of interference — as well as Northeastern’s use of anti-union firm Jackson Lewis.

“I am fortunate because I have a faculty union. I …

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New Study Finds Unionization Positively Impacts Instruction, Graduation Rates

According to a new study of 432 public four-year universities by Mark K. Cassell, published in the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, “unionization improves efficiency and effectiveness. Unionization contributes to lower budgets, higher graduation rates, and a greater number of degrees and completions.”

The study also found “unionization is positively related to a higher percentage of the budget devoted to instruction and lower percentage to administration.” Click here to read the paper in its entirety.

 

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New York Times Article on SEIU’s Adjunct Organizing

“Mr. Shimer was once asked on a Friday to teach a new course starting the following Monday, and told to come early that day to pick up the textbook. Ms. Shimer once had a class she was counting on canceled shortly before the first class. Like most part-time instructors, they have neither job security nor health benefits. But what pulled Mr. Shimer into the union campaign was the lack of an office.”

Click here to read the rest of the New York Times article on SEIU …

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Submit Your Stories To Congress

Adjunct Action/SEIU wants to help Members of Congress to get a picture of what’s really going on on campus and how it affects higher education. Over the next month, Adjunct Action is collecting stories from contingent faculty, and the stories will be personally delivered to Representative Miller by contingent faculty in a show of strength of the adjunct community. Stories must be submitted by December 20th.

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