Wednesday morning (and through the day), adjunct professors at Tri-C’s metro campus hosted an information table in the lobby of the liberal arts building to promote their ongoing discussions about joining or forming a union.
Adjuncts (part-time faculty) make up the majority of college instructors nationally, and yet are notoriously abused by administrations who adjuncts feel are skirting their obligation ot compensate committed educators.
Local adjuncts at Tri-C, Cleveland State and elsewhere generally make less than $3,000 per course, receive no benefits and often have to take on heavy loads at multiple institutions just to make ends meet.
“No credible claims can be made of ‘valuing education’ while those who do the work of educating are not valued,” said Andrew Bonthius, co-chair of the Tri-C Adjunct Organizing Committee, in a press release. “Adjunct instructors in northeast Ohio, are organizing to address a host of inequities by seeking a collective bargaining agreement to fully redress their working their conditions.”
The NEOMG’s Karen Farkas reports that Tufts University adjuncts recently negotiated a contract which included higher wages and opportunities to interview for full-time work. It’s a contract, the Service Employees International Union speculated, that could be used as a model for others across the country.
In another demonstration — momentum is sort of picking up — the Ohio Part-time Faculty Association, which formed two years ago, will rally this Saturday at noon on Public Square to appeal for equity and improved working conditions.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2014.
