| I just returned from Philadelphia where the AFT national convention
endorsed pay equity for part-time faculty. Here is the resulting press
release.
Linda Cushing, President
ADJUNCT FACULTY UNITED (North Orange County)
Fullerton College
Cypress College
School of Continuing Education
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2000
CONTACT: Jamie Horwitz at 202/879-4447
AFT CALLS FOR "EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK" FOR PART-TIME COLLEGE FACULTY
Union Mobilizes To Place Part-Timers on the Same Track as Full-Time
Faculty
PHILADELPHIA -- The 76th convention of the American Federation of
Teachers, meeting in Philadelphia, adopted a resolution today calling
for the union "to mobilize at all levels through organizing, bargaining
and public policy advocacy to end the financial and professional
exploitation of part-time faculty."
The resolution also called for the union to lobby for unemployment
benefits for part-time instructors if they are not employed during the
summer months.
Part-time instructors currently make up 43 percent of the nation's
higher education teaching force. The majority earn between one-fourth
and one-half as much as a full-time faculty member on a per-class basis,
often earning less than $2,000 per course. Most part-timers have few, if
any, health benefits or pension; and they usually are not compensated
for having office hours or serving on faculty committees. The number of
part-time instructors continues to increase as colleges and universities
replace full-time tenure-track positions with part-time workers. When
full-time positions are created, part-time instructors often do not
receive consideration.
Bill Scheuerman, an AFT vice president and president of the faculty
union at the State University of New York said, "College faculty are up
in the U.S. Department of Labor rankings with movie theater ushers for
professions with the highest number of part-time workers. This is not
right."
Rather than using part-time instructors to cover sudden increases in
student enrollment or to provide outside expertise in specific subjects,
colleges and universities are employing large numbers of part-time
instructors as a means of reducing labor expenses. In reality, many
part-time instructors teach full-time, but find it necessary to teach
at two, three, or four institutions to make a living wage. These
"freeway fliers" or "roads scholars" seldom have time to meet with
students outside class or participate in campus life and serve on
academic committees. Said Scheuerman, "Students are suffering because of
the employment practices followed by the majority of our higher
education institutions."
In recent years, the AFT has launched several successful campaigns to
organize part-time faculty unions. AFT's state federations in California
and Washington have succeeded in the past year in pushing through
legislation to provide incentives for state colleges to better
compensate part-time instructors and move more onto a full-time track.
Nationwide, AFT represents 35,000 part-time faculty in two- and
four-year colleges and universities. The union counts 110,000 higher
education faculty among its one million members. AFT represents more
college and university faculty than any other union.
The American Federation of Teachers represents K-12 teachers,
paraprofessionals and school-related personnel, higher education faculty
and staff, nurses and other health care professionals, and state and
municipal employees.
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