Adjunct Faculty Joins AFT/NEA Union

by James Parks, Mar 2, 2010

Some 150 adjunct faculty at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., voted 2-1 in recent days to join the St. Francis Adjunct Faculty Union, an affiliate of the New York State United Teachers, AFT and the National Education Association (NEA).

The part-time faculty members are concerned about low wages, infrequent paychecks, lack of access to health insurance and other benefits their full-time colleagues enjoy, including office and storage space. 

Says Michael Fontana, an adjunct in fine arts:

A union at St. Francis will give adjunct faculty the opportunity to speak to the administration with one collective voice about issues which we deem important. We are denied access to health care, regular pay increases, and a fair approach to pay compensation based on experience and time in service to the college and we need a union to right these wrongs.

The administration vigorously opposed the workers joining a union and ran an aggressive anti-union campaign, which included numerous letters, e-mail messages and videos.

Nancy Kelly, an adjunct professor in the communication arts department, says:

I’m very disappointed that the administration chose to try to stop us from forming a union. I found their letters and other efforts insulting to both my integrity as an educator and my intelligence. They were not above using fear tactics and other unethical means to keep us from organizing. I am not surprised, but I am very gratified, that a great majority of the adjunct faculty saw through these tactics and voted yes for the union.

The organizing committee successfully countered the anti-union campaign by reaching out to and speaking with every adjunct faculty member, as well as spreading the message that St. Francis is a great place to work and it will be even better with a union.

For more on the St. Francis campaign, click out AFT’s Face campaign here.

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