FACE: Syracuse Adjuncts Hit Their Stride
Health and leave benefits, professional development support, seniority, binding arbitration, a boost in pay: these are the high notes of the first contract part-time/adjunct faculty at Syracuse University ratified by a six-to-one margin in a vote counted June 23.
Adjuncts United (AU) represents more than 500 part-time faculty and some graduate students and is affiliated with New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and nationally with the AFT and the NEA. AU has been working towards this contract with the private university since it voted for representation in December 2005. Now, 81 bargaining sessions later–eight of them with a federal mediator at hand–AU has a contract that is a model for private universities in the state and the nation. “It has been a long and arduous process, but well worth the effort,” says Jeanette Jeneault, AU president. “As a first contract both sides should be commended on the many best practices that will be memorialized here.”
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