Adjuncts, job security and compensation…How Fast Is Fast Enough?

by E Wayne Ross on March 29, 2010

Inside Higher Ed: How Fast Is Fast Enough?

SAN JOSE — At a forum for adjunct faculty members Saturday, organizers asked participants to write down notes about their concerns about job security and compensation issues. The first note read aloud asked: “How do we get multi-year contracts?” To which one adjunct in the crowd shouted: “How can we get one-year contracts?”

The differing perspectives reflected in the exchange were present throughout the forum and other sessions here at the biennial joint meeting of the higher education divisions of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. Both unions have placed more emphasis on adjunct issues in recent years — and both can point to organizing drives and contract successes as a result.