Friday, January 29, 2010
How do we get started?
Reading recent developments on the Academic Jobs Wiki (and in particular its venting page), it looks like a few of the contributors -unemployed PhDs, adjuncts, lecturers, "contingent faculty" of all kinds- are interested in forming a union of some sort. I'm one of those people, currently teaching as an adjunct--that is, doing the job of an assistant professor for less money and benefits I used to receive as a teaching assistant--and I'm tired of venting and talking. I want to do something, but I'm clueless as to how we can get started practically. I'm suspecting though that I'm not alone and I'm fairly sure that there are others out there who know more than I do about the kind of action we can realistically consider (or not). To those people: I have created this dedicated space to begin a discussion about what we can achieve and how to do it. Despite the title of the blog, unionizing might just be one option among others, and it might not even be the best option. I honestly don't know, and that's why I'm hoping to gather other people's input here. Let's start from your comments to this first post and see if we can go anywhere from there.
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Wow. Nice work with the blog set-up!
ReplyDeleteRegarding unionization, it might not be necessary to even create something new. I know little about it, but it's my understanding that the UAW actually represents contingent faculty out in California.
Hello - thanks for setting this up. I am one of the complainers from the wiki, and saw your link there. I do love venting, but it is not terribly productive! I too confess that I have no idea how to organize such a diverse group as university/college adjuncts. Perhaps a place to start would be to publicize this blog, get a feel for how many discontents there really are out there, and possibly eventually create a newsletter to track progress and advocacy. If there is enough interest, perhaps we could draft some ethical standards for the use of adjuncts, etc. If all went well, perhaps it would be possible to think about a union. But something needs to change. Potential graduate students need to be made aware of the state of the job market before they enter graduate school, and let's face it, there aren't many places for them to go. Further, without any change I think the situation will only get worse.
ReplyDeleteHi there! I am a wiki contributor too, and I'm a VAP in a job that expires this year. I would love to be part of organizing.
ReplyDeleteI will say that, as I got my PhD at Berkeley, yes, their "lecturers" (that's what they call adjuncts) are unionized. They've won incredible things for themselves, like a promotion process, benefits, and pretty darn good wages (living wage for doing a 4/4, somewhere in the 30s, that only goes up over time). I think unions have to be created at individual institutions (as chapters?) so I'm not sure what we can do across institutions (other than make noise about it).
I would be interested in participating in any initiatives there might be.
Perhaps one of the most effective things we could do is to write a letter to the Presidents of the AHA, MLA, and other such organizations. A petition of sorts outlining what concrete things that we want (benefits and more money for lecturers/adjuncts, more humane contacts with search committees, strong encouragement and lobbying from them to university presidents in support of more TT jobs, etc.), which people could sign.
ReplyDeleteThe AHA and the MLA are a (big) part of the problem. People on the job market for multiple years suffer in part because they have to go these conventions and blow a fortune for one lousy interview. Interviews need to cease taking place at these conventions. This will reduce the financial exploitation and psychological truam we all have to endure.
ReplyDeleteHi there! I'm a union organizer with the American Federation of Teachers in Michigan. I've been helping nontenure-track faculty organize at a lot of the universities here.
ReplyDeleteA quick guide to organizing a union can be found at http://cgeu.org/faq.php#g1. Look at the AFT's FACE site for more info on organizing contingent faculty: http://www.aftface.org/
Jon Curtiss