Category Archives: Contingent labor

COCAL Updates

Updates in brief and links

Important note:

As of Monday Sept. 10, the Chicago Teachers Union, AFT Local 1, is on strike against the Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Emanuel, who appoints the entire Board of Education. This strike is the most important fight against the corporate neoliberal attempt to privatize and destroy our public schools and, as such, deserves the support of all of us. Please go to https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4013/c/468/p/salsa/donation/common/public/?donate_page_KEY=7204 to make a contribution to CTU’s solidarity fund and also check for local solidarity actions in your areaq. Such actions are being planned all over the nation, and even internationally. CTU is the second largest local teachers union in the US and the first, under its new leadership, to attempt to stand up to the privatizers. If they lose, all of us, even in higher ed, will see increased pressure in this direction of corporate “education reform”.

thanks for your solidarity,

Joe Berry

1. Hollywood now turning its propaganda machine on teachers and public schools
2. As Chicago teachers head toward strike, Democrats turn on their union

3. Solidarity with Chicago Teachers, from Professional Staff Congress at CUNY (see below)

THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS STANDS IN SUPPORT OF THE CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION

Whereas the Chicago Teachers Union (AFT Local 1, the nation’s first teachers’ union) is locked in a protracted contract battle that has important consequences for educators everywhere; and

Whereas Chicago teachers have rallied, marched, won the support of parents, and mobilized for a contract that includes fair compensation, meaningful job security for qualified teachers, smaller class sizes and a rich curriculum that includes art, music, physical education and foreign language; and

Whereas the CTU has published a report, The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve, which eloquently argues in favor of proven reforms that would improve the education of the city’s 400,000 students, including offering pre-kindergarten for all, guaranteeing vital support services (counselors, nurses, social workers and school psychologists), having a fully-staffed library in every school, ensuring quality school facilities, ending school board practices that have increased racial segregation, and reducing class size (currently one of the highest in the state); and

Whereas 92% of the CTU membership participated in a vote to authorize a strike, and 98% of those voting voted yes; and

Whereas the CTU is opposed by an array of “reform organizations” created and financed by wealthy hedge fund managers and businessmen, in alliance with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who together are trying to impose a regimen of evaluating teachers based on students’ standardized test scores, imposing a “merit” pay scheme for teachers while eliminating traditional salary increases for seniority and additional education, and mandating a longer school year and school day without a proportional increase in salary; and

Whereas the opponents of the CTU have used the deep pockets of wealthy supporters to launch a torrent of ads attempting to discredit the union and promote charter schools; and

Whereas the CTU has established a “CTU Solidarity Fund” to raise money to respond to the negative ads of their opponents and circulate its own report, The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve; and

Whereas a victory for Chicago teachers would greatly encourage teachers everywhere who are resisting attempts to blame educators for low student achievement rather than point the finger at inadequate school funding and widespread poverty, and standing up to forces who would eviscerate hard-won tenure and seniority protections and salary levels, as well as weaken teacher unions; and

Whereas a victory for the Chicago Teachers Union would be a victory for public-sector employees nationally as we struggle to resist the imposition of austerity conditions; a victory for CUNY faculty and staff, as we face a regime of testing and standardization; and a victory for all who oppose the privatization of public resources and the plundering of public assets; therefore be it
Resolved that the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY (Local 2334, AFT) support the Chicago Teachers Union in its fight to negotiate a contract that meets the needs of its members and their students; and be it further
Resolved that the Professional Staff Congress contribute a sum of $3,500 to the CTU Solidarity Fund; and be it further
Resolved that the Professional Staff Congress urge the NYC Central Labor Council to adopt a similar resolution; and be it further
Resolved that the Professional Staff Congress encourage its members to show support in any or all of the following ways: signing petitions in support of the CTU struggle, making individual donations to the CTU Solidarity Fund, writing letters of support, becoming Associate Members of CTU, and attending local solidarity events.

COCAL Updates

COCAL Updates
Updates in brief and links

1. Kaplan faculty in Liverpool, England, UK unionize! From Jon Blanchette a Kaplan NY union leader.
The reason why I’m writing is to let you know about another organizing victory for Kaplan teachers, this time in the UK. One of their reps posted this comment on our blog to reach out and let us know that our success in NYC helped them make the case to teachers in Liverpool to do likewise:

http://abetterkaplan.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-unionization-process.html?showComment=1345815597957#c5791634900816573691

[To the best of my knowledge, it’s the first Kaplan to unionize in the UK.]

2. Are American Public Universities being privatized?

3. The Rise and Demise of the Neoliberal University

4. Good article on Chicago Teachers struggle

5. Adjunct Project comments on new Huffington post online story

and the story with people you know on screen

6. Newt Gingrich teaches a MOOC online for Kaplan from GOP convention

7. US Conference of Bishops supports adjunct union at Duquesne U

8. Good article on Chines labor struggles

9. Grad union at U Michigan seeks organizer. see below

10. Chicago City Colleges FT faculty union, AFT 1600, accepts contract with merit pay tied to student test results

11. Huffington Post blog (Pablo Eisenberg) on the recent Campaign for the Future of Higher Ed/NFM report on contingent faculty
and more reactions to the report and http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2012/08/30/we-are-all-adjunct-faculty/

12. From Counterpunch, Democrats, US Labor and Latin America (well worth a look)

13. CA Faculty Assoc. (CFA) in the CA State U System ratifies new contract.

14. Corrected info for Non-tenure Track Faculty conference in April in Pittsburgh (see below)

15. An adjunct teacher leads fight to save historic gym in Philly, from Alex Kudera, the adjunct novelist/memoirist:
a bit on the lighter side but worth noting it was an adjunct who saved Joe Frazier’s gym
: maybe another good example of how adjuncts, often by necessity living in the communities where they are teaching, can know a lot more about their students and what is going on in or around the campus community than the luxury faculty beamed in from Affluencia, USA.

alex

16. Former Green River CC (WA) local president and WFT VP found to have embezeled funds. Adjunct Keith Hoeller presses for further investigation into this and other issues.

17. National U (CA), a CA nonprofit following the for-profit business model including no faculty tenure, is retaliating against faculty who complain.

9. ORGANIZER

Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), the union of graduate student instructors and graduate student staff assistants at the University of Michigan, is seeking a union organizer to work in Ann Arbor, MI.

Candidates should have strong one-on-one organizing skills, deep knowledge of the higher education workplace, significant experience working with diverse populations, and a commitment to a participatory and progressive labor movement.

Necessary Qualifications:
● Strong one-on-one organizing skills
● Ability to manage time and coordinate multiple projects in high-stress situations
● Ability both to work independently and to facilitate group interactions
● Ability to work evenings and weekends as needed
● Willingness to make at least a two-year commitment
● Basic computing knowledge, including experience with Microsoft Office or Open Office
● Social networking skills
● Ability to write, interpret, and apply contract language
● Familiarity with grievance processes
● US citizenship or other authorization to work in the United States

Preferred Qualifications:
● Internal organizing experience, especially in higher education
● Other prior experience in a higher education environment
● Experience organizing job actions and contract campaigns
● Experience as a staff member in a volunteer-run organization
● Experience in the labor movement
● Work with a wide variety of software applications, including QuickBooks, Salsa, and MS Access

The immediate assignment of the candidate hired for the currently-available position will focus on direct one-on-one organizing. Experience in this area is essential. Prior representation or union leadership experience is welcomed, but not necessary.

Applications will be accepted through Monday, Sept 10, 2012. Salary range is approximately $54,000, with a potential for increases based on experience. Health insurance provided by employer. An additional stipend is given as an allowance for phone and parking expenses.

Please submit a single PDF file with last name as the first part of the filename (i.e. smith_application.pdf) containing a resume, a brief introductory letter, and answers to the following questions, length no longer than 2 pages total:

• What do you see as the central purpose of a union?
• This position involves organizing a large number of people. Some might not be enthusiastic about getting involved in the union, may not know much about unions, or will be afraid of what their supervisors will think of their involvement with a union. What would be your strategy to recruit members and leaders and build the organization?
• A department steward isn’t coming to meetings, and isn’t being conscientious about following up with people in their department. A first-year student in this department is very eager to be involved. What do you do?

E-mail to Jenny Kohn at veep@geo3550.org. Please use “GEO Organizer Application” as the subject line.

GEO is an equal-opportunity employer.

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14. Dear faculty, graduate students, and those interested in the non-tenure-track faculty conference:

I am writing because you may have received the incorrect address for the conference Countering Contingency: Teaching, Scholarship, and

Creativity in the Age of theAdjunct, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 5-7, 2013.

The correct address for abstracts and other communication is nttfconference@gmail.com (note the ” f “)
Please resend your abstracts and any questions or concerns, and please accept our apologies for this error.
Attached you will find the corrected Call for Participation.

Cocal Updates

1. More analysis from Senate report on for-profits, this time on cost differences with public schools

2. Action alert – help requested

Teachers and other public sector workers in Swaziland have been engaged in a battle that has become increasingly hard to watch – police have used rubber bullets and tear gas on strikers, nurses and civil servants have been fired upon, and hundreds have been sacked including the entire executive of the teachers union.

3. Law blog and journal discuss adjunct teaching for lawyers

4. The workplace: where free speech goes to die [All workers need free speech on the job, not just academics who need “academic freedom”.]

5. How low can contingent pay go – to zero? See below for Craig’s List ad for free work for Christian colleges

5. Next step by business in the push to privatize K-12 education. Can higher ed be far behind on their list?

6. No surprise – for-profit colleges their execs put profits above student success, Congress says.

7. If you haven’t bee reading this week’s Doonesbury, check out
http://doonesbury.slate.com/strip/archive, starting with August 6.

and see (defensive) comment on it by IHE blogger at
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/doonesbury-profit-higher-ed

8. Adjunct pay and teaching quality

9. If anyone on this list reads Hebrew, here are the links to the webpages of the unions that represent contingent faculty (called “junior” there) at two universities in Isreal. If anyone can check them out and give a brief report in English for this update, that would be great. I got them from two FTTT profs there who I happened to meet recently.
http://cmsprod.bgu.ac.il/units/zutar
http://www.zutar.org.il/

10. Updated call for conference on contingency in Pittsburgh April 5-7, 2013, sponsored by contingents and the USW. Joe Berry is an invited speaker. See below

11. For-profits now discounting tuition (like many private non-profits have been doing for years) in an attempt to counteract their recent enrollment declines.

12. University teachers strike in Sri Lanka

13. Even without a contract post-Katrina, United Teachers of New Orleans, LFT/AFT successfully fights on. A real lesson for all of us in the contingent faculty movement.

14. Newly organized adjuncts in NH cc’s (in SEIU) are having trouble getting a first contract. See below to help them.

15. Here is an important message from the Bay Area Occupy Education list that realates to attempts by LUMINa foundation, and allies like Bill Gates to buy the regional accreditors and especially attack community colleges, like the current attack on City College of SF. See below.

16. Mother Jones on the for-profits

Updates in full

5. How low can pay go for teachers? Craigslist is now advertising for college professors to volunteer their time by donating online materials for an alleged Christian university start up.

Professor (Philadelphia)

Date: 2012-08-05, 10:05AM EDT
Reply to: ncxmn-3185200753@comm.craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]

New college (startup) projected to begin January of 2013 requests college professors to volunteer (essentially donate time and training) services by offering a college course that will be presented locally, but also made available online (e/distance learning) and in DVD-format. Opportunity for future payment. College will be a non-profit Christian University that will offer courses throughout the United States, and be affiliated with World Christian University. Courses will also be made available to offenders who are in state and federal prisons. Possibility of volunteer work leading to full-time academic position. Startup institution will offer extremely low cost college courses, and will begin with limited capital–therefore the need to get started with volunteer teaching. Courses could be made available on tape, and online, and therefore some courses could be prepared for presentation in as little as two weeks taping time. Thanks and God bless. Please contact Dr. Will Korey at 215-687-6971
Location: Philadelphia
it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
it’s OK to distribute this charitable volunteerism opportunity for inclusion in 3rd party web sites that have been approved by craigslist
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————-
10. Apologies if anyone has already forwarded this–I’m new to the list. I’m also one of the organizers, so please feel free to email me if you have any questions. Regards, .R.

— Call for Participation —

Countering Contingency:
Teaching, Scholarship, and Creativity in the Age of the Adjunct
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
April 5-7, 2013

Inspired by the Non-Tenure-Track (NTT or adjunct) conversation sparked by Web sites like the New Faculty Majority and the Adjunct Project, a push to improve NTT working conditions by the MLA, and the effort to organize by NTT Faculty at Duquesne University, this conference offers an opportunity to think more deeply about the state of contingent, non-tenure-stream faculty. We invite proposals for papers, panels, workshops, roundtables, and creative presentations highlighting, critiquing, and theorizing how the unstable and unsustainable working conditions of NTT faculty impact intellectual work; narrating or analyzing the logistical challenges of serving as NTT teachers, scholars, and artists; discussing the working conditions that call for revision. Contingent labor constitutes the majority of faculty, yet NTT faculty are the lowest paid and most overburdened workers. We represent the foundation of academic experiences at the undergraduate level and offer irreplaceable interactions with students. We are artists, scholars, researchers, and examples of inspired teaching. This conference is an invitation to imagine the answers to crucial questions raised by our tenuous position: How can we use what we know to create a more sustainable and equitable labor and educational system, one that will benefit everyone at the university? What change is most needed? What does it mean to constitute the new faculty majority at your college or university?

Proposals for papers, panels, or roundtables are invited on the following topics:
–maintaining a scholarly or creative life in an era of non-tenured faculty invisibility
–documenting the institutional experiences of contingent faculty and their students
–comparative analyses of salary, contracts, and other aspects of employment
–histories of academic labor struggles
–best practices for contingent faculty
–unionization for contingent faculty
–the proletarianization of the professoriate
–links between this labor struggle and others past and present (especially in the Pittsburgh area)
–any topic related to these concerns

Proposals for non-traditional modes of participation are welcome as well. Some formats for these might include:
–art and creative writing panels (framed by your experience of creating this work under NTT working conditions or about the experiences of NTT faculty)
–interactive workshops that seek audience participation in ways that help us all to analyze and think reflexively about higher education institutions, funding, or any aspect of academic labor and life
–short performance pieces or multimedia presentations
–any other ideas you have for participation, just give us the details

Please email nttconference@gmail.com if you are interested in participating in, helping to plan, or attending the conference. For paper proposals, please send a 250-word abstract and short bio paragraph. For panels and roundtables, please send a 250-word panel description, plus 250-word abstracts of all papers/comments and bio paragraphs for all participants. For non-traditional ideas for participation or workshops, please send a 250- to 500-word description of your idea and a short bio paragraph for each participant. The deadline for submission of all proposals is September 15, 2012. Participants will hear back from the planning committee around October 15 at the latest, but please send your materials early and let us know if you need an early decision in order to facilitate travel funding requests at your institution. Informal inquiries before sending formal proposals are welcomed and encouraged for non-traditional presentations and workshops. Proposals from workers and scholars in the Pittsburgh region will be given priority.


Robin J. Sowards, Ph.D.
Duquesne University
English Department
600 Forbes Avenue
631 College Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15282

“Not merely the objective possibility, but also the subjective capacity for happiness, can only be achieved in freedom.” Theodor W. Adorno, /Minima Moralia/

“Madet orbis mutuo sanguine, et homicidium cum admittunt singuli, crimen est: Virtus vocatur, cum publice geritur.” [‘The world is drenched in mutual blood, and when individuals commit homicide, it is a crime; it is called a virtue when it is done in the name of the state.’] St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Letter to Donatus (par. 6)

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14. Hello All,

Adjunct Faculty members of The State Employees’ Association of New Hampshire/SEIU 1984 are facing a formidable challenge by the Community College System of New Hampshire, as we bargain for our first contract.

In the past few months, their mgmt. team: cancelled sessions, made regressive counter-proposals, and disrespectful remarks about our function and role in the community college system.

We are reaching out to all like-minded academic partners and friends. Will you show support for adjunct faculty by signing our petition?

http://1984.seiu.org/page/s/adjunctpetition

We would appreciate your support by signing and circulating our petition to your friends, colleagues, and adjunct faculty that are struggling to improve their quality of life.

http://1984.seiu.org/page/s/adjunctpetition

Once you sign the petition you will be automatically redirected to a share page.

Thank you for your support.

CCSNH Adjunct Faculty
SEA/SEIU Local 1984

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15. the Lumina Foundation along with Bill Gates gave WASC 1.5 million dollars. It is important for these mafia criminals to have complete control of all accrediting agencies for then they can use them, much like Wall St. id with Moodys and Standard and Poors, to rate schools for hostile takeover. This is all part of the takeover, hostile as it is, of the 112 community colleges.

The accreditation agencies are really being used to lower the ratings on community colleges to provide the excuse to take them over. SF CC must be seen in this light.

The Lumina Foundation has ten members which serve on its board that have ties with Sallie Mae and the Lumina Foundation is proposing four tenets of a program for community colleges that will include mandatory full time status to receive grants meaning that Student Loans will be needed for full time community college students hardly exist they have to work.

Take a look at Lumina Board members:

http://closedstudentsuccess.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Who-is-behind-this-/316120-12397

Lumina is not only a secret parliament that is now working assiduously to overtake through hostile takeover community colleges, but they have upped their budgets and targeted superficially post secondary education. Below are the four steps in order to get Lumina Funding and thus philanthropy money.

They will turn community colleges into a boot camp for low, entry level,low paid work and those who malinger, i.e. go to school to get an education, will be punished. Below you will see their four step program for dismantling access to and public education.

Lumina meets in luxury hotels where newly arriving, usually non-union immigrants or first generation immigrants serve them lavish luncheons with drinks, on cloth covered tables attending to all their needs while they plan the decimation of these same workers’ childrens’ future.

while the attention is on K-12 and testing and billionaires, Gates has upped his stake in post secondary and works closely with Lumina in creating the material conditions for school to work programs and community colleges as factories for ‘skills’.
Lumina’s “Four Steps to Finishing First ” program lays out a plan to achieve their goal of 60% attainment by 2025. Their method – use business type modeling to “increase productivity” (degree attainment); the assumed outcome of which will be more jobs created. The “Four Steps”:

1. Performance Funding – Don’t fund schools in the traditional budgeting process. Tie funding to performance. Legislators should “provide financial incentives to schools that help students clear certain milestones on their academic journeys or finish work toward their degrees or credentials.” More degrees = more money.

THIS IS THE SCHOOL TO WORK IDEOLOGY, FUNCTIONALISM AND INSTRUMENTALITY

2. Student Incentives – Legislate tuition discounts and incentives to students who do not exceed the number of credits required for graduation. Limit financial aid to the required number of credits for graduation. In other words – better not change your major.

THEY PROPOSE PUNISHING STUDENTS WHO TAKE EXTRA CREDITS, TAKING AWAY PELL GRANTS FROM STUDENTS NOT REGISTERED FULL TIME, AND PAYING STUDENTS NOT TO TAKE CLASSES

3. New Models – Institute low-cost approaches (specifically online degree programs) “substituted for traditional academic delivery whenever possible to increase capacity.”

THIS IS THE CYBER LEARNING PART WHERE 154,000 STUDENT CAN BE IN ONE CLASS ON MOOCS. ALL O THIS IS BEING DEVELOPED AS WE SPEAK. THIS WILL MEAN NO NEED FOR MUCH FACULTY AND ALSO NO TENURE TRACKS. THE WALMART TEACHING MODEL WITH LOW PAID ADJUNCTS WORKING MILLIONS OF STUDENTS

4. Business Efficiencies – Implement business practices that “Produce Savings to Graduate More Students.” Part of the plan to be more “efficient” :

“At the state level, policymakers should limit the number of research institutions…research can be a problem at institutions that aspire to attract research funding, because fulfilling these aspirations can increase costs and reduce productivity in terms of serving undergraduate students.”

RIGHT SO NO MORE IMAGINATION OR RESEARCH, ONLY BOOT CAMP FOR OLIGARCHIC SOCIETY

“Cut athletic funding – Competitive athletic programs almost always require substantial subsidies from colleges and universities that pull money away from academics.”

“Employee contributions to health care and retirement plans also deserve scrutiny and should be measured against other private sector, competitively established contribution and benefit levels.”

The plan cites The University of Maryland as a great example

RIGHT, AUSTERITY CUT BENEFITS AND HEALTH CARE NO MOR PENSIONS 401k OR NOTHING at success story in controlling costs…students and facultyexperiencing the deep program cuts imposed on that institution may disagree.

CONTROLLING COSTS MEANS CUTTING BACK ON EDUCATIONAL SERVICES, FACULTY AND STAFF

It is a vicious cycle – with ALEC and Lumina Foundation at the center. ALEC pushes legislation and policy which imposes draconian cuts to public higher education funding. Lumina lends financial and policy support to the agenda – and positions itself to step in with a “Four Step Plan” to fill the void. Lumina offers a brilliant talking point – “follow our plan, and more people will get college degrees, which means more people will get jobs…because (as everyone knows) people with degrees get hired more than people without.”

BY THE WAY, THIS IS ALL DUE TO OBAMA TELLING US HOW MUCH EVERYONE NEEDS A COLLEGE DEGREE WHICH MERELY TURNS EDUCATION INTO A COMMODITY, DIPLOMA MILL, AND THUS IT IS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THAT IS SUPPORTING THIS, CORPORATE DEMOS ARE BEHIND IT BOTH ON A STATE AND FEDERAL LEVEL

While these are lofty goals and wonderful ideals (for education is truly the cornerstone of democracy); with Lumina, the devil is in the details. There is a clear push in this agenda to privatize and take an opportunistic approach to a continuing economic recession (or as Paul Krugman more accurately says, depression). Educational Foundations such as Lumina and the Gates Foundation are taking on a greater roll in developing policy, as opposed to direct awards – and it is having an enormous effect, again, because of the draconian cuts being endured by public colleges and universities.

There are two questions to be addressed…first, what does this outsized financial influence by a select few on public education policy mean, and where are they taking us. And second – will more college degrees, as is the goal of Lumina, create more jobs… http://bdgrdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/alec-higher-education-and-lumina-foundation-policy-money-and-setting-the-agenda/

It is important to note that this is now called ‘Advocacy philanthropy’ and although Lumina was in ALEC and is now out (due to publicity) they do not need ALEC. They have philanthrpy money (stolen from working people) at a time of austerity and this will give them leverage to completely overhaul through hostile takeover the entire CC system. They want a boot camp, or school to work with punishments for taking extra classes and forcing students to be on work tracks.

Here are a few other foundations, media groups and political leaders who have close ties to Lumina:

Friedman Foundation

Kipp Foundation

Hillsborough Education Foundation

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

McKnight Foundation

Yahoo! Finance

Sheila Simon

Jamie P. Merisotis

Center for Student Opportunity (CSO)

The Fiscal Times

BORSHOFF

Washington Area State Relations Group

Education Commission of the States

New America Foundation

American Association of Community Colleges

Excelencia in Education

The Education Trust

Achieving the Dream

As to SMC

a few searches for Dr. Tsang, Santa Monica College and the Lumina Foundation found they are in close contact.

Here is one of the agendas from a recent meeting where Lumina representatives and Chui Tsang and Louise Jaffe were highlighted guest speakers:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CFEQFjAG&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.acct.org%2FFullDailySchedule.pdf&ei=TWIkUI6OIea62wXc-4D4CQ&usg=AFQjCNGVbsk6KSk5Jmcdmc-fjuyzZUeyEg

And there is more. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CFkQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ccleague.org%2Ffiles%2Fpublic%2FCCCT11-11ag.pdf&ei=eVIlUPbPDoqE8QSj6YHAAw&usg=AFQjCNGcOgNdFFyVsehHGlb1i5o0wjeHDQ&sig2=IPmc40qIraRD9kBYo18H-w

Louise Jaffe, SMC board of trustee was also involved in the conference with Chui Tsang which was sponsored by Lumina Foundation.

AB515 was Lumina based, they had their fingerprints all over it as the Student Success Task Force. they have now decided after the blowup at SMC that they will target, using their accrediting agencies and false data they derive from private data chop shops, that this campus or that campus must be taken over and perhaps even driven into receivership.

SMC has both federal and state lobbying firms.

SMC has a contract with the lobby firm: Statregic Education Services: see below. Please note the lobby firm’s other clients are privatization agenda companies- Connections is now owned by Pearson- the testing giant!!! K street consulting is another lobby firm. (Oakland Unified is one of K Street’s clients). there are major conflicts here between public instituions such as SMC and private education companies. Brownley is backed by the privatizers such as Edvoice. SF community college possible closure- not an accident as the privatizers continue to line the pockets of government decisions makers. Kathy The Student Success Task Force was written by individuals at CSU sacramento Institute for higher education leadership and Policy (IHELP). Dr. Wesley Apker was involved in IHELP-worked at IHELP and is a bad actor!!! He failed to disclose his economic conflicts on his required FPPC 700 form.

http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000056437&year=2011

In addition, the SMC hired lobbyist, John P McAllister is a revolving door executive who formerly worked for congressman Bud Shuster (R) of PA in the 112th District who received his top support and lobbying from Republicans. In fact, all of his top contributions were made to and from Republicans.

Furthermore, Congressman Bud Shuster is a well known support of privatizing of education. In fact, his votes in congress further charter schools and the privatization of education.

http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientlbs.php?id=D000056437&year=2011
http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=15621
http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cycle=2002&cid=N00001395&type=I

http://www.ontheissues.org/PA/Bud_Shuster_Education.htm
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/S000394

The recent $82,500 expenditure in 2011 was costly and very bad timing given the current budget projections. Also, we are we supporting republican tied lobbyist who are known revolving door executives.

2011 was also the year that Julia Brownley was pushing AB515 at the state level. Regarding other wasted budget spending, SMC spent over $100,000 on a new logo in 2011. Many private schools also spend much money on branding and marketing, rather than properly funding their campus and opening new classes, hiring new teachers or providing excellent benefits to their workers.

In a message dated 8/12/2012 1:09:37 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, susan4@jps.net writes:
Beezer — Thanks for this info.

The accrediting group us WASC — Western States Schools and Colleges, in case anyone wants to do more research.

At 12:26 PM 8/12/2012, Elizabeth de Martelly wrote:
> Summary of May 2012 Student Union Meeting in Santa Monica
> Over 100 students from 26 campuses met in LA’s Santa Monica College in May. At this meeting, they passed a mandate outlining the basic principals of an action-oriented, participatory democracy-based statewide student union that will fight educational austerity and privatization and work in solidarity with campus laborers to connect our struggles (please see the attached document and CA Student Union website for details: http://castudentunion.wordpress.com/). Importantly, participants at this meeting also agreed that students in NorCal should plan a follow-up conference to discuss the structure of this union formation, passing the baton to us!
>
> Campus/Union Reportbacks
> City College of San Francisco
> ~In June, WASK (a private accreditation firm) threatened to take away CCSF’s accreditation unless the campus overhauled just about everything. Critically, WASK is connected to the Student Success Task Force (bills intended to deny access and ration education).
> ~WASK has red-flagged 60% of the K-14 institutions in its jurisdiction, and many believe that the fate of CCSF could determine what happens to these other schools (i.e., if WASK wins in re-structuring CCSF, it will go after other schools).
> ~On October 15, CCSF must submit a preliminary report to WASK about how they will alter the institution to meet the firm’s requirements (many people commented that following WASK’s requests will result in a much less democratic, much less accessible, and significantly under-resourced institution).
> ~CCSF is mobilizing to fight this threat and call it out as bu….
> UC Berkeley
> ~There are new threats of fee hikes, where Prop. 30 is being used to de-mobilize and re-route our anti-austerity movement.
> ~This year, two unions (AFSCME and UAW) are entering into contract negotiations, and at least UAW is preparing to strike next year.
> ~Students interested in forming a statewide union have continued to meet and are forming/joining broad coalitions to start a wider conversation about educational austerity and ways to combat it.
> CSU
> ~CSU faculty settled their contract and will not strike.
> UESF
> ~UESF held secret negotiations and settled for half of the sum they had asked for, which will mean significant budget cuts. A “no vote” campaign is being organized.
> ~Prop. 30 is destructive and teachers are being forced to lobby for it rather than put their energies into building a long-term, sustained movement.
>
> Proposals that Passed
> 1. To plan a conversation-based forum (referred to in this meeting as “Bay Area Solidarity Forum”) to discuss the purpose of a student union and to build for a larger conference.
>
> Location: TBD (ideas that came up: somewhere in SF, at CCSF, or at UC Berkeley)
> Timeline: before larger conference (likely mid-late September)
> ~good to have this forum in earlier in the semester, like September 15
> ~this forum doesn’t necessarily have to be on a weekend
> Ideas/Scope:
> ~conversations/brief presentations about the purpose of a student union and international models
> ~focus on international solidarity and international student union leaders can come to this event (if not to the conference)
> Follow-Up:
> ~Location/Date Committee: Meleiza (bottlomlining), Millie, Juan, and Alex
> *At the August 25 meeting, this group will present a proposal for potential dates and locations for the Bay Area Solidarity Forum.
>
> 2. To hold a large student union conference where proposals for the structure of the union will be discussed and voted on, and where there may be some educational component, potentially on a second day.
>
> Location: preferably at CCSF, but if students are unable to mobilize, then UC Berkeley will be a back-up
> Timeline: between mid-September and October 20
> ~late September/early October: organizing far ahead of elections will help people see this movement as an alternative to electoral politics
> ~October 6: it would be better to have an organizing body in place before the WASK report is due (October 15) so that students can take on significant actions on the 15th (like shutting down the campus through mass walk outs or occupying a building–one person mentioned that such tactics may be the only way to stop WASK); October 15 was chosen for us, so we have to build our struggle around it and create the awareness/momentum before the 15th
> ~October 20: the Saturday following the October 15 deadline where CCSF will have to submit a preliminary proposal for how it will satisfy the accreditation committee’s demands; people will be angry, and this could help mobilize them
> Ideas/Scope:
> ~solicit as many proposals as possible about how the student union will function/be structured
> ~bring in international union leaders from Mexico, Chile, Quebec, Mexicali, etc. and/or do fundraising to help with the fines and fees many unionists are facing
> Follow-Up:
> ~Location/Date Committee: Beezer (bottomlining), Carla, Kitty, and Carlos
> *At the August 25 meeting, this group will present a proposal for potential dates and locations for the Student Union Conference, where CCSF is our first choice, and UC Berkeley is a back-up.
>
> 3. To assemble a group of people to draft a proposal for the structure of the union.
>
> Summary of Working Groups
> Bay Area Solidarity Forum Location/Date Committee:
> Meleiza (bottlomlining), Millie, Juan, and Alex
> *At the August 25 meeting, this group will present a proposal for potential dates and locations for the forum (likely mid-late September)
> Statewide Student Union Conference Location/Date Committee:
> Beezer (bottomlining), Carla, Kitty, and Carlos
> *At the August 25 meeting, this group will present a proposal for potential dates and locations for the conference, where CCSF is our first choice, and UC Berkeley is a back-up (likely early-mid October).
> Outreach Committee:
> Andy and Juan (bottomliners), Carlos and Kitty (fliers)
> *These folks will create fliers for outreaching the August 25 meeting; create/update a facebook page; upload content onto the student union website; and they will draft/help draft a longer call for the forum and conference once the dates and locations are finalized (this call should include information about what’s happening at CCSF as well as the October 15 WASK deadline)
> Facilitation and Agenda Planning for August 25 Meeting:
> Carlos, Rea, and Beezer
>
> **If anyone wants to join any of these committees, just respond to this thread! Folks in SoCal: we can’t wait for you to plug in, but we gotta put a few more pieces in place first :)**
>
> Schedule of Upcoming Student Union Planning Meetings
> Saturday, August 25 at 12pm: UAW Hall (2070 Allston Way, Suite 205 in Berkeley)
> Saturday, September 8 at 12pm: Redstone Building (2926 16th St. in SF)
>
> Announcements and Upcoming Actions
> Monday, August 13 at 4pm: meeting at CCSF’s Ocean Campus
> ~will discuss actions for CCSF’s opening week of classes, which start August 15
> Monday, August 13 at 6pm: The Women’s Building (3543 18th St. in SF)
> ~Occupy SF Forum and teach-in about CCSF and educational austerity/privatization
> Wednesday, August 15 from 10am-2pm: CCSF Ocean Campus (50 Phelan Ave. in SF)
> ~an informational picket on the first day of classes to educate students about what’s going on at CCSF
> Sunday, August 23 at 6pm: at Francesco’s Italian Restaurant (8520 Pardee Dr. in Oakland)
> ~OEA Skyle conference
> Monday, September 17 all day: Occupy SF
> ~anniversary of Occupy and “Hell no, we won’t pay” actions
> ~Occupy Education NorCal voted to sponsor this meeting and outreach for attendance
> Content-Type: application/pdf;
> name=”CA Student Union – Public Statement.pdf”
> Content-Disposition: attachment;
> filename=”CA Student Union – Public Statement.pdf”
> X-Attachment-Id: f_h5sfr4bz0
>
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COCAL Updates

Updates in brief and links

1. More responses to the Delphi report on the changing faculty and support for adjuncts
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/08/03/new-effort-discuss-adjuncts-and-faculty-jobs

2. Cost of misclassifying workers as independent contractors (this happens to some teachers especially in extension and similar programs)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/02/1115763/-Daily-Kos-Labor-digest-Workers-and-states-lose-big-bucks-from-employee-misclassification

3. Grad unions active while awaiting NLRB ruling on their right to unionize under NLRA
http://labornotes.org/blogs/2012/07/eager-unionize-grad-workers-wait-nlrbs-thumbs

4. Cyber learning and the for-profits
http://www.dailycensored.com/2012/08/05/cyber-earning-the-big-enchilada-point-and-click-education-in-the-age-of-irrationality/

5. A Philly, PA area adjunct deal with cancer while teaching up to 7 classes.
http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-05/news/33049741_1_adjuncts-cat-scan-entire-class#.UB-8aXls3k4.gmail

6. Good blog on workplace issues by Cory Robin, a TT prof in CA and formerly a leader of the Yale grad union (and author of the great book, “FEAR, the history of a political idea” which has a wonderful chapter on fear as a factor in the workplace, drawn largely from his Yale expereinces. See his blog at:
http://coreyrobin.com/category/laborworkplace/

COCAL Updates July 28, 2012

1. Backlash builds as for-profits rake in money from military vet benefits
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-vets-colleges-20120716,0,2523844.story

2. More on the Columbia College, Chicago, NLRB decision
http://chronicle.com/article/Columbia-College-Chicago/132979/
and http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/07/19/nlrb-columbia-college-chicago-violated-labor-law
and (with a few errors)
http://www.suntimes.com/business/13859338-420/nlrb-orders-columbia-college-to-resume-bargaining-with-union.html
and http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2012/07/23/columbia-college-adjuncts-claim-a-victory-at-the-nlrb

3. More on the Georgia unemployment insurance fight for contracted out workers in educational institutions
http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Organizing-Bargaining/Unions-and-Community-Groups-Launch-Justice-for-School-Workers-Campaign-in-Georgia

4. For everyone going to COCAL X in Mexico and other interested in what our colleagues there are facing, here is an article on Carlos Slim (and much more), the world’s richest man and a Mexican.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/10309-the-1-connection-mexico-and-the-united-states-crony-capitalism-and-the-exploitation-of-labor-through-nafta

5. Good story out of Chicago Reader on how Mayor Emanuel and Mitt Romney have the same education program and why (and Obama too). It also makes very clear why we need to support the Chicago Teachers Union as much as possible in their fight to preserve public education in Chicago and nationally.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/romneys-plan-for-schools-sounds-like-rahms/Content?oid=6860548

and a Labor Notes article on the same issue
http://labornotes.org/2012/07/saying-its-not-about-money-chicago-teachers-inch-closer-strike

6. Florida adjunct wins case to know name of student complainant whose complaint led to his nonrenewal
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/20/adjunct-wins-right-learn-name-student-critic

and http://www.adjunctnation.com/?p=4487

7. NYT on the future of unions
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/business/economy/unions-past-may-hold-key-to-their-future.html?emc=eta1

8. Another win at a for-profit language school in Vancouver, Inlingua ESL College. see below

9. A fine video of the students demonstrating in Quebec
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KJ9lHdpsJU&feature=youtu.be

10. Brief filed on both sides with NLRB on grad student unionization issue
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/24/organized-labor-and-higher-education-line-opposite-sides-grad-union-issue

11. Report from participant in Kaplan NYC organizing. see below

12. News Corp. (Rupert Murdoch, phone hacking et al) now heavy into K-12 education. Will higher ed be next? see below

13. Petition for better pay for adjuncts
http://signon.org/sign/better-pay-for-adjuncts.fb1?source=s.em.cr&r_by=160722&mailing_id=5212

14. Article on Ivy Tech (the statewide CC in IN), one of the worst abusers of PT and contingent faculty (no tenure for anyone, even FT senior faculty) in the nation
http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/e16bd3e57feb4d538889f425dc3fa82e/IN–Exchange-Temporary-Teachers

and http://posttrib.suntimes.com/news/14017026-418/rising-use-of-part-time-college-faculty-sparks-worries.html

15. Chicago teachers show mobilization and real strike threat can win, but fight and strike prep continues
http://labornotes.org/blogs/2012/07/chicago-teachers-win-relief-longer-day-battle-war-not-over

16. Budget constraints hitting contingent faculty in Iowa
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_0bfbf1be-d724-11e1-8988-001a4bcf887a.html

Updates in full
8. Afternoon
Commentary from FPSE President Cindy Oliver on another recent successful union certification in the private language training field in Vancouver. She also is calling for reform of the basic labour law as well.

Frank Cosco
FPSE and Vancouver Community College FA

From: Federation of Post-Secondary Educators [mailto:info@fpse.ca]
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2012 1:53 PM
To: Frank Cosco
Subject: [FPSE President’s Comment] Union drive at private college shows need for labour law reforms

JULY 23, 2012

www.fpse.ca

Union drive at private college shows need for labour law reforms

The news that the 40 faculty at Inlingua ESL College have been certified by the BC Labour Relations Board is great news all-around. For the faculty members, it’s a great step forward, one that will put them on a sound footing and a more respectful relationship with their employer. For the Organizing Committee at Education Training Employees Association (ETEA), Local 21, the news is another example of how hard work and dedication to organizing can make a real difference in the lives of faculty and staff in BC’s private post-secondary institutions. For FPSE, the successful organizing drive shows how the plan adopted at our May 2012 convention to put staff, legal resources as well as targeted funding to support Local 21’s work in this area is succeeding.

However, like previous organizing efforts in private post-secondary institutions, the experience at Inlingua ESL shows that BC’s labour laws are in need of major reforms. Despite a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2007 in which the Court noted that collective bargaining is an integral right for every worker, the laws that define those rights in BC tilt heavily in favour of employers, to the detriment of workers in this province.

BC law requires that even though a majority of workers at a workplace demonstrate—through the signing of union cards—that they want to unionize, they must submit to a government supervised vote before the union certification is granted. During the ten day period between when the certification notice is filed and the vote takes place, the employer is able to meet with workers and talk about the union drive. It’s an intimidating time for every worker. In effect, BC’s Labour Code gives an employer one last chance to undermine the organizing effort. In the case of Inlingua and other private colleges that have unionized in the last few years, the employer pressure tactics have not worked.

But workers shouldn’t have to endure that kind of pressure. That’s one of the reasons why unions like FPSE are making the case for much needed reforms to BC’s labour laws. Unionizing is a decision for workers to make. Allowing employers to interfere with that decision only serves to undermine a balanced labour-management relationship that needs to be in place from the beginning.

Keep in mind too that once the union certification is granted, the process of negotiating a first collective agreement can often be just as challenging as the initial organizing drive. Employers who are steadfastly opposed to unionizing have found ways to make the first agreement process protracted and frustrating, conditions that are designed to undermine free collective bargaining and effectively neutralize the effort to establish fair first agreements.

There is an urgent need for labour law reforms in this area as well. Prior to 2002, there were mechanisms in place to help move new certifications towards a mediated first agreement. Those measures were removed by the BC Liberals, giving employers additional tools to fight organizing drives.

BC needs to restore balance to its labour laws, balance that reflects the principles supported by Canada’s Supreme Court when it comes to collective bargaining. The experience of private post-secondary faculty organizing efforts shows how the current Labour Code fails to protect those principles and, ultimately, fails to respect the right we all have to free collective bargaining.

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Email: info@fpse.ca | CUPE 1004

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11.

Sent to you by Vanessa via Google Reader:

The Unionization Process
via Teachers for a Better Kaplan by Those in favor on 7/18/12
The following is one KIC teacher’s recount of the process of unionizing our three centers in New York:

I’ve been a teacher at Kaplan for a few years and there have always been discussions about unionization. In the fall of last year a few fellow teachers and I got together for drinks and discussed the main reasons why it would be good to join a union. We contacted the union for the Washington Post first since it is the parent company of Kaplan. They are in DC, so they put us in touch with the folks at The Newspaper Guild in NYC. It took about 2 months to schedule our first meeting at the union.

There are three schools in NYC so before the first meeting we tried to get in touch with teachers from the other schools. This was a bit of a challenge because we couldn’t just send a blanket email and ask who was pro-union. Luckily, we got in touch with someone, who got in touch with someone else, and were able to get at least one or two from each school at the first meeting.

The purpose of the first meeting was to explain who we were, to find out about the process of unionization, and to learn more about the role of the union. Although many of us had been in or connected with a union in the past, none had gone through the initial process of unionizing before. At that first meeting, we were encouraged to seek out other unions to see what they had to offer. We did some research and even had meetings with other unions, but in the end voted 7-1 to go with the Guild.

Our aim was not to install the union through our small group, but to get to the point of having a school-wide vote on whether or not we should have a union. The vote is monitored by the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board). In order to signify to the NLRB that our group was interested in having a vote, we had to get 60% of our coworkers to sign union cards. The card is a printed index card with basic info: name, date, address, title, signature, etc. Actually, we only needed 30% or 35% to take this step legally, but it is safer to go forward with a vote when there is at least 60% of the people demonstrating interest.

The importance of secrecy may seem obvious, but I didn’t realize how key it was before the first meeting. It was essential that management didn’t know what we were doing. Initial discussions had to be held outside of the workplace. Even if managers seemed to be pro-union, it was best that they don’t know because it could have put them in an awkward place of having to lie at some point.

Secrecy can be construed as sneakiness; in fact, it is just being necessarily strategic. Unfortunately, because we had to be quiet about our discussions, the atmosphere at work became intensely uncomfortable. While we were collecting signatures, we didn’t know whether those involved in organizing would be fired for leading the drive. We didn’t want to talk to people who we knew or thought were anti-union because they of course might have informed management about what was happening. Basically, we had to gauge each person individually before asking them to sign a card.

It helped that I had worked there for a while already because I knew most of the teachers at my school. We made it easier by dividing the task among a few teachers, so we each had to talk to not more than 5-6 others. We couldn’t give the cards out and have them returned later, but rather had to sit with the signer and be sure the card didn’t end up left on a table somewhere. Sometimes I just invited someone out to coffee to make it easier to talk freely. While telling people about the process, we were clear that the goal was to have a vote. Even though we weren’t able to talk to everyone initially, nothing would have been decided without everyone having a chance to put in his or her opinion. I also tried to focus on the issues. People generally have similar problems with the workplace, and it was important to not lose sight of the fact that we were doing this in hope of making our lives a little better.

The secrecy did freak some people out. It’s easy to feel like there is something nefarious going on when people are not being open about what they are doing. We just had to hope that eventually others would understand why it had to be that way. Like I said, one of the main reasons for secrecy was because we were worried that people would be fired. It is illegal to fire someone for being involved with unionization, but what would stop them from firing people for other reasons? We also knew that once management learned what was going on they would begin an anti-union campaign.

Management did find out but not until we had gotten signatures from nearly 50% of the teachers. It was important that we had worked fast and spoken to as many people as possible in a short amount of time. Because Kaplan is probably on the lookout for union activity in other schools, it may be even more difficult now to get past this beginning stage.

Kaplan began the retaliation by holding mandatory meetings during breaks and even pulling people aside individually to give them “helpful” information about why unions were bad. Many people saw that the fliers were poorly written propaganda pieces meant to intimidate, but I’m sure others were swayed, at least to want to stay out of the whole thing altogether. We knew that regardless of their real opinions, our direct supervisors had to tow the company line in order to preserve their own positions. I think some teachers were afraid of losing the respect of and camaraderie with their supervisors if they went against what they were saying.

At some point one of the teachers at one of the schools came across some papers that our supervisors were given by upper management about how to recognize signs of unionization and how to talk to teachers about the process. There were notes taken about everything that everyone said during the meetings. Our managers were instructed to look out for groups of teachers who were having private conversations, among other things.I’m pretty sure they were roaming the hallways a lot more than usual during that time. I have to say, it was one of the most stressful few weeks I have ever experienced. In theory, I wasn’t that afraid of losing my job, which was really the worst that could have happened, but the psychological pressure that Kaplan put on us was so great that I dreaded coming to work every day. This dread, however, only made me more resolute in my belief that we needed a union.

In the end, we did reach very near our goal of having 60% of teachers sign cards to signify to the NLRB our wish to have a vote. With that, the cards were submitted, Kaplan was officially notified (at that point still not knowing that we were already so far along), and a vote was scheduled for a month down the line in June.

After that, the meetings continued to go on and on and people got more and more heated in their discussions. I don’t know what Kaplan thought they were doing, but much of their anti-union campaign just seemed to push people like me further along the road to unionization. There is a fairly good record of some of the fliers they were putting out on the teacher’s blog. Have a look for a laugh! Some teachers, on the other hand, became vehemently anti-union. This was most difficult to deal with because we wished that we could just have calm discussions to share our opinions but emotions were too high to do so. Without rational discussions, it was hard to give important information or to clear up misinformation. Once people decided they were anti-union, it was tough to convince them to go to meetings that weren’t being led and controlled by Kaplan.

In the beginning of June, the NLRB set up voting booths in each of the schools and each teacher was able to vote anonymously. I believe that nearly all eligible teachers voted. The count was 2-1 in favor of the union. We are now in the process of electing officers who will be helping the Guild put together a survey to see what issues are most important to all teachers. What we aim to bargain for in our first contract will also be decided by all of the teachers democratically. Once this information has been gathered, a bargaining committee consisting of several teachers from each school will sit down with Kaplan and Guild lawyers and representatives and physically negotiate a contract.

While I personally enjoy my work at Kaplan, I feel the company has cut so many corners that it severely compromises the quality of education it can provide and the quality of life that teachers lead while working there. The union never promised that we will get anything. They offer help in negotiating a contract that provides us with improved working conditions. It is my hope that Kaplan can begin to view the teachers not as adversaries who need to be outwitted of dollars and cents, but as responsible workers providing valuable input on the creation of a sustainable and healthy system.

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12. Education Week today published an article on News Corp’s move into K-12 education which lays out the Murdoch / Klein overall plan, of which partnering with AT&T around “interactive curricula” for tablet computers is just one aspect. As would be expected, News Corp plans to jump into the $1 trillion / year K-12 for-profit market whole hog.

“In talking with schools, News Corp.’s name rarely comes up, Berger said, owing to the distance between education and the phone-hacking scandal. Though Wireless Generation did lose a $27 million contract in 2011 with New York State, and in a May interview with The New York Times Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, asked “What parent would want personal information about themselves and their children in the hands of Rupert Murdoch, given the current circumstances?”

News Corp. Ed. Division Moves Into K-12 Curriculum

By Jason Tomassini on July 23, 2012 3:00 PM | 3 Comments
UPDATED

Global media conglomerate News Corporation jump-started its fledgling—and mostly quiet—education division today, unveiling Amplify, a new brand for its education business that will include education software products and, in a surprising move, curriculum development.

The re-branded division will include three initial focuses, beginning with pilot programs during the upcoming school year:

• assessment and data analysis, mostly through Wireless Generation, the software company News Corp. purchased a majority stake of in 2010;
• a tablet-based digital learning platform that will customize content, assessments, and course materials to each student using performance data and will be delivered, at least initially, through a partnership with AT&T;
• English language arts, science, and math curriculum, adapted to the Common Core State Standards. The content will be licensed from other publishers or written by Amplify in-house and combine text, interactive elements, and assessments to adapt to individual students.
“It’s both a branding exercise, but beyond that it’s an introduction to our vision and where we’re going,” Joel I. Klein, the head of the education division whose new title is Chief Executive Officer of Amplify, said in an interview.

While the assessment tools have been Wireless Generation’s bread-and-butter for several years, the tablet platform and curriculum development marks a new direction for News Corp., one that places it in competition with giant education companies such as Pearson and McGraw-Hill, rather than just education-software providers.

While Klein wouldn’t mention any competitors by name, it’s clear that Amplify, like those larger companies, intends to offer a complete range of services: curriculum content, the technology platforms through which it is distributed, and the tools that allow students and teachers to get more out of it.

For its move into curriculum, Amplify will partner with publishers such as Lapham’s Quarterly and Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California-Berkeley, and develop its own content through Wireless Generation. The content will be digital and interactive, but Klein suggested some would be distributed digitally in the early going.

Amplify’s tablet platform will be made available on devices powered by AT&T broadband and wireless networks. The Associated Press reports the schools won’t have to pay to participate in the pilot program but more information on school selection and how the product will end up in classrooms will be released soon, according to Amplify’s website.

Larry Berger, co-founder and executive chairman of Wireless Generation, said in an intervierw that News Corp.’s investment in curriculum is among the largest he’s seen during his 20-year career, though Berger would not disclose the monetary value of that investment. Klein told the Wall Street Journal that News Corp.’s education division made $70 million in investments last year.

(Berger serves on the board of trustees of Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit corporation that publishes Education Week.)

Since being purchased by News Corp., Wireless Generation, which says it serves 3 million students in the United States, has grown from about 400 employees to 830 employees. There hasn’t been much news out of the education division during that time. Last year, Klein, the former New York City Schools Chancellor, was immediately thrust into a close advisory role to News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch during the phone-hacking scandal that rocked News Corp.’s British newspaper division and the company.

When asked if Amplify would have been unveiled much earlier if not for the phone-hacking scandal, Klein scoffed. He said the company looked “thoroughly” into additional acquisitions in education but decided instead to develop products through, and invest in, Wireless Generation, which fueled its growth.

“There’s a difference between being in incubation mode and being in hiatus mode,” Berger said.

Since Klein re-focused all of his energy on education in mid-June, there have been major changes at the company. News Corp. recently decided to split into two companies, one for its lucrative film and television operations and another for its publishing business. Education will be part of the latter. Over the weekend, News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch resigned his directorships of several British newspapers, setting off speculation that those assets may be sold.

In talking with schools, News Corp.’s name rarely comes up, Berger said, owing to the distance between education and the phone-hacking scandal. Though Wireless Generation did lose a $27 million contract in 2011 with New York State, and in a May interview with The New York Times Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, asked “What parent would want personal information about themselves and their children in the hands of Rupert Murdoch, given the current circumstances?”

Regardless of the real stink on the News Corp. name, Amplify should help further the education division’s distance.

Klein and Berger hinted at additional education deals in the future, but wouldn’t disclose more details. Both were adamant that the current education market isn’t serving schools’ digital learning needs and that Amplify’s products will “transform” and “reimagine” learning. This, of course, will require teachers, administrators, and most importantly, students to get on board, Klein acknowledged.

“If students don’t find it engaging, exciting and inspiring, it has very little value,” he said.

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“Access to Unemployment Insurance Benefits for Contingent Faculty”, by Berry, Stewart and Worthen, published by Chicago COCAL, 2008. Order from

“Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education”. by Joe Berry, from Monthly Review Press, 2005. Look at for full information, individual sales, bulk ordering discounts, or to invite me to speak at an event.

See Chicago Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, for news, contacts and links related to non-tenure track, “precarious” faculty, and for back issues of the periodic news aggregator, COCAL Updates. Email joeberry@igc.org to be added to the list.

See for information on the Tenth (X) Conference on Contingent Academic Labor in Mexico City, August 10-12, 2012 at Univ. Nacional Auto. de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City.

To join international COCAL listserve email If this presents problems, send an e-mail to vtirelli@aol.com
or, send “Subscribe” to

With Student Learning at Stake, Group Calls for Better Working Conditions for Adjuncts

The Chronicle: With Student Learning at Stake, Group Calls for Better Working Conditions for Adjuncts

Academe needs a new model for the professoriate that better supports the growing number of instructors who are off the tenure track, the participants in a national project about the changing faculty have concluded.

The participants, who represent a cross-section of academe and its stakeholders, also said in a report being released this week that they need to align to gather data that will paint a clearer picture of higher education’s increasing reliance on contingent faculty.

A key reason for those two strategies to improve the jobs of contingent faculty members is that their poor working conditions may harm student learning, says the report, a “working document” produced by the Delphi Project on the Changing Faculty and Student Success.

The latest COCAL Updates

pdates in brief

1. Job announcement: FT Internal organizer wanted for AFT local 3544 at U of OR, Graduate Teaching Fellows, see below

2. Labor action for Medicare for All, see below

3. Two organizer jobs with National Union of Healthcare Workers (Independent)
see below

4. CHE covers contingent faculty victory at NEA Assembly on unemployment issue
http://chronicle.com/article/NEA-Votes-to-Press-Labor-Dept/132793/

and in IHE http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/07/10/adjuncts-get-some-support-nea

5. New President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Larry Hanley, says need to organize riders, not just drivers (a lesson here for us??)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13502/atu_larry_hanley_amalgamated_transit_union_organizing_bus_riders_drivers_wi/

6. Federal firefighters are also contingent workers
see below

7. Western Assoc. of Schools and Colleges (WASC) the regional accreditor for the western states) gets tough with for-profit Ashford U, owned by Bridgepoint. Note this is not the Community College section of WASC, headed by Barbara Beno, which has been attacking City College of SF for being too good to its mostly pt faculty and having “too few” administrators)
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/10/profit-ashford-university-loses-accreditation-bid

and in a related story on for-profits and accredition http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/10/accreditors-decision-shows-profits-can-still-take-over-nonprofit-colleges

8. Articles on mass protest against the electoral fraud in Mexico
http://www.marxist.com/mass-protests-in-mexico.htm
and http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Global-Action/Mass-Protests-in-Mexico-Challenge-Fraudulent-Elections

9. NLRB impounds ballots in Duquesne U union representation election due to administration challenges
http://triblive.com/news/2182977-74/duquesne-board-decision-university-adjuncts-election-adjunct-faculty-nlrb-office

and http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/07/11/nlrb-puts-duquesne-adjunct-election-results-hold

10. Precarious workers in Paris, France, organize and protest, from Sophie Banasiak
see below

11. A provocative idea for labor law reform – just cause dismissal rights for everyone (like now in Montana) which would also help protect organizers and activists. Also very good comments list.
http://labornotes.org/2012/06/labor-law-reform-we-need

12. A very interesting website. Worth a look periodically. I occasionally send out stuff from them on COCAL Updates
http://classwaru.org/

13. An interesting update on the student strike in Quebec
http://www.stopthehike.ca/2012/07/share-our-future-the-classe-manifesto/

14. News from other contingent workers: Indianapolis hotels try to go to an all temp, contracted out workforce to stop union drive
http://labornotes.org/2012/06/hotel-employers-conspire-deny-permanent-jobs

15. Guardian ( UK) discussion of casualization of academic work in Britain and the US
http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/jul/11/careers-options-for-academics?commentpage=2#comment-17127611

Updates in full

1. The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, AFT Local 3544, is seeking a full time internal organizer.

The Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF) represents 1400 teaching and research assistants at the University of Oregon. We are seeking a permanent, full-time
organizer to begin by September 2012. The GTFF is a member-run union with a paid
professional staff that works under the direction of elected, volunteer
officers. The goal of staff is always to get more members participating in
our activist union culture. We are especially looking for people who can
work with graduate students/employees and are enthusiastic about the labor
movement in higher education. Review of applications will begin on Friday,
July 23, 2012.

*Job Duties:*
● build and activate membership through GTF orientations, office visits, departmental events, and membership drives
● recruit and train members into leadership positions
● help the GTFF leadership plan and implement union activities such as social
events, general membership meetings, rallies, volunteer nights, and
work-actions
● represent the GTFF to the UO administration, to other unions, and to
other campus and community groups
● help with contract negotiation and enforcement, including finding and
filing grievances, assisting the bargaining team, and research
● help maintain accurate records of union activities, members, and
membership dues by keeping our database of information updated
● help with communications, including writing/editing press releases,
designing flyers and brochures, and developing
other materials
● bookkeeping

*Minimum Qualifications:*
● at least one year of organizing experience (either volunteer or paid)
● ability to manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment
● excellent oral and written communication skills
● ability to use word processing, spreadsheets, databases, and social media
● strong one-on-one organizing skills
● flexible schedule; ability to work evenings and/or weekends as needed
● U.S. citizenship or other authorization to work in the U.S.

*Preferred Qualifications:*
● a Bachelor’s degree or higher, and experience as a graduate
student/employee– graduate employee experience preferred
● experience with QuickBooks, Filemaker Pro, Adobe CS, and MS Access (some
of this may be learned on the job)
● experience working as an organizer for a labor union or a volunteer-run
organization
● experience organizing membership drives and/or work-actions

The GTFF is an AA/EEO employer. Women and people of color are strongly
encouraged to apply.

Salary and benefits: minimum $45,000 (negotiable); health, dental, and vision
insurance; 401k

Attach in an email your cover letter, resume, and contact information
(name, address, phone number, email) for 3 people who can serve as
references.

Submit applications to: operations@gtff.net
_______________________________________________
cgeu-list mailing list
cgeu-list@cgeu.org
http://cgeu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cgeu-list

2.

FYI.

Cliff Liehe
CCSF/AFT 2121

— On Mon, 7/9/12, U&I wrote:

From: U&I
Subject: [ELN] Demand Quality Health Care For All! 8th in a Series of Key Issues in 2012
To:
Date: Monday, July 9, 2012, 7:40 AM

EMERGENCY LABOR NETWORK
Jobs * Social Security * Labor Rights
Medicare and Medicaid * Peace and Justice
emergencylabor@aol.com
www.laborfightback.org
———-

[Please excuse duplicate postings and please forward as widely as possible.]

The Question to be Decided: Shall Health Care Be Regarded as a Basic Human Right or as a For-Profit Multi-Billion Dollar Business?

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), having been upheld by the Supreme Court, contains a number of very positive features. But there are yawning gaps in its coverage of enormous proportions. When fully implemented, it will still leave 27 million uninsured, and that number could be much larger with the Court’s having made expanded Medicaid coverage optional for the states. This is undoubtedly the worst aspect of its decision. It puts at risk the main tool to expand insurance coverage to the very poor, mostly people of color. Moreover, untold numbers of the uninsured will inevitably decline to purchase insurance, despite the mandate.

Looking to the future, health care costs will continue to rise, more people will be underinsured, and those who cannot afford private insurance — or who simply refuse to buy it — will not only be deprived of health care coverage, they will have to pay a stiff fine.

At the heart of the problem is the fact that the insurance companies will remain at the core of the health care system. As long as this is the case and these companies are able to plunder hundreds of billions in profits from the system, the ACA will be severely crippled in carrying out its stated goal of providing health care coverage for all.
Background

Health care in the United States makes up 17.9% of the economy, incorporating some of the most profitable enterprises, as well as vital facilities and services which barely cling to life. While working people suffer and die waiting for care or through mishaps in the system, the most preposterous charges and claims reverberate in a torrent of election-year nonsense.

Underneath all the extreme rhetoric and exaggerated claims lies a free-for-all fight by competing corporate interests. Benefits to ordinary people are coincidental. The Supreme Court’s decision of June 28, 2012 on the ACA cemented health care profiteering, left union workers in an even more precarious position, and further undermined prospects of the very poor’s obtaining basic health care. Within hours of the verdict, the stock market reflected the true story.

Stocks of for-profit hospital chains shot up. With the confirmation of the individual mandate projected to guarantee a steady stream of paying customers, the value of Hospital Corporation of America stocks rose 15%, while Tenet gained 10%. The commercial health insurance corporations, buoyed by the retention of the individual mandate, can now focus on whittling away the concessions they made in 2009. Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers held their own, already planning for the added expenses they would be incurring to help close the donut hole of Medicare Part D and insurance coverage expansion.
Drawing a Balance Sheet on the ACA
It was hoped that the ACA would dramatically expand Medicaid for most low-income folks, but the Supreme Court’s decision undermined that. The ACA pledged increased funding for community health centers — culturally competent care close to home — but this has been weakened by threats to Medicaid expansion and a variety of attacks on immigrants, with or without papers.

On the plus side, children can stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26. Some of the most outrageous insurance company practices are finally outlawed, like denying care for pre-existing conditions and annual and lifetime caps on benefits. Gender inequality is proscribed. The donut hole will be closed.

On the down side, there will be no real limits on what insurance companies, hospitals and drug companies charge. Those who do not have health insurance coverage one way or another will be forced to buy the insurance industry’s shoddy products or pay an additional penalty and remain without coverage. As in Massachusetts, where the ACA’s prototype was enacted in 2006, the new norm is unaffordable underinsurance.

Health care costs will continue to rise swiftly, strengthening employers’ resolve to shift costs onto workers through pushing high-deductible, low coverage plans, or by dropping health insurance altogether. Strikes and lockouts over health benefits could become more frequent and of longer duration. Workers in unions with joint union-management Taft-Hartley health and welfare plans will be confronted with more employers demanding renegotiation of terms by the end of 2013. And in 2018, the excise tax on so-called Cadillac health insurance plans will kick in, adding further burdens to those with stagnating wages.
Which Way for the Labor Movement?
Resolution 34 of the September 2009 AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh proclaimed the goal of a national social health insurance: a single payer program. This resolution was the result of seventy pro-single-payer resolutions submitted in the pre-convention period, more resolutions on one issue than ever before in the history of the AFL-CIO. The steady growth of labor’s commitment to fundamental health care change grew from the work of the All-Unions Committee for Single Payer Health Care — HR 676.

By the time the national debate over health care took off early in 2009, nearly six hundred labor organizations in forty-nine states had already endorsed HR.676. Thirty-nine state labor federations, one hundred thirty-five central labor councils and twenty-two national and international unions stood up to be counted.

To deepen and mobilize this sentiment, the Labor Campaign for Single Payer was organized in St. Louis in January of 2009. This coalition set as its first priority the adoption of Medicare for All as a strategic goal for organized labor. That goal having largely been met with the passage of Resolution 34, the struggle now is to move from resolutions to action and to link the fight for a just health care system with labor’s overarching goal of driving back the threat of austerity and winning security for the working class and the entire population. This will require building labor/community coalitions across the country capable of mobilizing gigantic numbers in the streets demanding no cuts to the safety net and Medicare for All!

Following the 2010 enactment of the ACA, and in the wake of the 2010 elections, the pendulum has swung to the states. The Vermont Workers Center, an affiliate of Jobs with Justice, and many unions in Vermont provide the solid backbone of the movement for health care as a human right in the Green Mountain State. Built on several years of solid grassroots work, the single-payer movement in Vermont took advantage of federal funds allotted to the states under the ACA to fashion health insurance exchanges to entrench their goal of emerging in 2017 with a true single-payer system. Powerful forces are now pouring resources into the state to block this advance for health care justice or to subvert this movement into something palatable to the corporations and politics as usual.

Some unions representing those who work in health care, especially National Nurses United, are deeply involved in refashioning their industry, rejecting corporate partnerships and fighting for the highest possible standards of care. This militancy is reflected in strikes and other actions to block the erosion of access to care and threats to advances already won.
How Did Things Get This Way in the U.S.?

U.S. health care remains dominated by profiteers, and they exercise extraordinary influence in both the Republican and Democratic parties. This explains why U.S. taxpayers spend more on health care per capita than taxpayers in any other developed country, yet we still have fifty million uninsured people, only half of whom are promised eventual coverage by the ACA. The bottom line is this: Profit rules, with the working class, one way or another, paying through the nose as a result of enactment of the ACA.

The Bush-appointed chief justice John Roberts cast the deciding vote to maintain the overall structure of the ACA. But a challenge to that structure came from 26 state governments, many of whose governors threaten to reject the expansion of Medicaid — which would make it available to those making up to 133% of the federal poverty line — even though the federal government would pay 100% of the cost for the first three years and at least 90% for the succeeding years. Their main rationale: “We need the money for education.” But instead of pitting educational needs against health care needs, the states need to demand additional funding for both, which can easily be paid for by slashing the astronomical Pentagon budget.

How many of the 26 states that brought the suit against ACA to the Supreme Court will end up refusing to implement Medicaid expansion? In Massachusetts, politicians call Medicaid the “budget buster.” We need to step up the fight for all states to sign on to the expansion, even as we intensify the struggle for a single-payer, Medicare-for-All system. Everybody in, nobody out!
The individual mandate, thought up by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation in the 1980s, is the most regressive way to attempt to get to universal health insurance coverage. Whether constitutional or not, it is an integral part of the “shared responsibility – shared sacrifice” mantra of the neoliberals. It was used to block single-payer in Massachusetts and on the national scene. It’s argued that the individual mandate is necessary to rope in all those who don’t buy health insurance on their own and so place a burden on everyone else. In reality, most people who don’t have health insurance are that way because they can’t afford it.

As bad as the situation for health care in the U.S. is today — and will be even under the ACA — it will be predictably far worse if Democrats and Republicans join in a “grand bargain” to impose substantial cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other vital safety net programs. It is widely expected that an attempt will be made to ram through such a “bargain” along the lines of Bowles/Simpson during the Congressional lame duck session in December. What’s needed is for the labor movement and our community allies to join together to do everything in our power to prevent this from happening.

This entire experience underscores the need for reforming the health care system in a most fundamental way. Let’s not forget that the Tories and Liberals did not usher in the universal health care system in Canada or Great Britain. It was the labor movement that led the fight to win these historic breakthroughs. Independent political action by labor in the U.S. organized in trade unions and in the community must lead the fight for a just health care system if it is to become a reality in our country. Mass action on the ground and labor campaigns wherever possible can spearhead this drive. Labor will also need to build its own party with its own demands, including Medicare for All!
Our goals and slogans going forward should include:
* Resist attacks on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and all other social benefits!

* Demand that Medicaid expansion be agreed to in all the states!

* Organize all health care workers into fighting unions!

* Mobilize for single-payer locally and nationally!

* Support Vermont’s grassroots efforts for single payer!

* Affiliate unions with Labor Campaign for Single Payer!

* Challenge all candidates on real health care reform!

* Run independent labor candidates!

* Prepare for a rebirth of the Labor Party!

Issued by the Emergency Labor Network (ELN)

For more information write emergencylabor@aol.com or P.O. Box 21004, Cleveland, OH 44121 or call 216-736-4715 or visit our website at www.laborfightback.org. Donations gratefully accepted. Please make checks payable to ELN and mail to above P.O. Box.
————
3. Hello everyone!

We are looking for Union Rep/Organizer in San Francisco; and we are also still hiring Organizers throughout California. Please let lots of people know. Thanks.

Phyllis

************************************
Phyllis Willett
National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW)
Director of Operations
5801 Christie Ave, Suite 525
Emeryville, CA 94608
Ofc: 510-834-2009
Cell: 510-219-4910
Fax: 510-834-2018

6. More than half of federal fire fighters also struggle with contingency:

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, which coordinates firefighting efforts nationwide, says 15,000 wildland firefighters are on the federal payroll this year. Of that number, some 8,000 are classified as temporary seasonal employees, who work on a season-to-season basis with no guarantee of a job the following year and no access to federal benefits.

Some seasonal firefighters say they put in a year’s worth of hours in six months. . .

The fire crews are heroes to those in the path of the flames. Politicians praise their bravery. Grateful residents buy them pizzas and send thank-you cards.

“That’s what makes the job great,” Lauer said. “But sometimes I wonder to myself. I wonder if people know we’re uninsured.”

Associated Press – July 9th

_______________________________________________
adj-l mailing list
adj-l@adj-l.org
http://adj-l.org/mailman/listinfo/adj-l_adj-l.org

————-
10. Hello,
>
>
> The coordination of workers and precarious in struggle in Paris plans to organise, with other organisations, a demonstration against precarity, unemployment, lay off, and sufferance at work that we plan in december 1. We want to make this mobilisation international and we are looking for people in other countries to take part in this project. Thanks in advance for your help.
> About the coordination of workers and precarious people in struggle:
> We some indignés took the initiative to create a coordination with people from other networks, like association of workers in struggle against lay off, unionists, (associations of) unemployed people, etc. We did it with the help of an activist of the 15M Barcelona, inspired by the coordination of workers’ struggle in Barcelona. There were two meetings of this coordination in April and June, where we had concrete discussions about local and specific struggles to exchange and spread informations, petitions, invitations to gathering… We organised an assembly after the demonstration of May 1st, we now organise a gathering with pans at the social conference with the government and unions (July 9th) and we have this project of demonstration in december.
> About the project of demonstration:
> We work on a demonstration that would make converge three corteges of 1/ unemployed-precarious, 2/ wagers in struggle against lay off, and 3/ civil servants (against state reforms, precarity of some civil servants who have private work contracts). There will be an assembly at the end of the demonstrations on the place where they will converge.
> The organisations against unemployment who organise every year (in december) a demonstration against unemployment agree to be part of the project (they widen their usual demonstration), and they propose december 1. We are expecting answers of associations of workers in struggle for the cortege against lay off and we are discussion with unions for the cortege of civil servants.
> We would like to internationalise this mobilisation in december against precarity, unemployment, lay off, and state reforms, so would anyone be interested to take part in this project in your different countries and cities ? It would be interesting if there is a convergence at the international level as precarity, unemployment and sufferance at work (in private and public sectors) are connected also with european and international treaties that put people in competition. Please let me know if you are interested.
> To give you a more precise idea of our work i send you the translations of the meeting of our first meeting in April (French, English, Spanish, Italian, German). I will send you the translation of our second meeting (here in french : http://travailleursetprecaires-idf.net/) as soon as i get them.
> Please do not hesistate if you have any questions.
> Thanks in advance !
> Cheers
> Sophie
——————————————
Please use
510-527-5889 phone/fax
21 San Mateo Road,
Berkeley, CA 94707

COCAL Updates

Updates in brief and links

1. A rare look into who really controls “public” universities or “Yes Virginia, there really is a ruling class, and you are not in it.”

2. Here is a new one, an ad for a pt/adjunct to evaluate other adjuncts, at Harper College in suburban Chicago. Note, this is the college that, back in the 80’s, challenged cc adjuncts very right to unionization under the education employment relations law there and delayed cc adjunct unionization in IL for nearly two decades until we could change the law.

3. For-profits discuss shrinkage of federal funds and their response

4. the third section of Alex Kudera’s adjunct novel, Fight for Your Long Day, in graphic novel form is now up on the web at 

5. NYT on Duquesne fight. Voting starts Friday.

6. Another reason to go to COCAL X in Mexico City, progressive politics there

7. Provost at StonyBrook, SUNY, fires longterm adjuncts for supposedly now not have proper credentials
This behavior has happened at other places, usually in retaliation for faculty being too demanding or a desire to weaken the union (personal experience, jb)

8. NLRB to reconsider grad unionization at private universities

9. For-profit Career Ed Corp is forced by accreditors to defend its claims on job placement for its SF campus, California Culinary Academy

10. Reality check on corporate profits and wages, at all time high and low respectively

11. IHE article on recent CAW study on part-time faculty

12. U of VA reinstates president after corporate right wingers who engineered her ouster were themselves defeated (resigned)

13. A letter to CHE from a faculty member at a for-profit

13. Why corporate execs should not run schools

14. Interesting debate in the Nation on union strategies in the wake of the loss in Wisconsin.

15. IHE article on AAUP report on governance rights for contingent faculty

AAUP Proposes Giving Contingent Faculty a Much Bigger Role in College Governance

The Chronicle: AAUP Proposes Giving Contingent Faculty a Much Bigger Role in College Governance

The American Association of University Professors is poised to urge colleges to give much more say in their governance to contingent faculty members, including many part-time adjuncts, librarians, and graduate students who are paid to teach or conduct research.

In a draft report being released today, the association argues that colleges are ill-served by policies that exclude most instructors who are off the tenure track from governance activities, and offers a list of recommendations for giving contingent faculty members much more say in the affairs of the institutions that employ them.

COCAL Updates

1. Longmate and Hoeller on us in Seattle Times

2. Mexican students on the move

3. A new [to me] website on economic inequality with much that applies to us and also on the need for more progressive taxation, as a start http://inequality.org/

4.The adjunct faculty at American University recently organized a union with SEIU Local 500. Student support was key to the success of our campaign, I believe. The students circulated a petition calling on the administration of the University not to use their tuition dollars for union-busting, they did flash mob and banner drop actions, wrote Op Eds in the student newspaper, and produced a really moving video. You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RMoYEUzMa0

The student support mitigated against fear and hesitation among the adjunct faculty, and helped minimize the employer’s anti-union tactics. I also believe the students’ activism was an important element in the decision of AU to come to the bargaining table immediately following the vote and to bargain in good faith (which we are engaged in right now).

Anne McLeer, SEIU Local 500

5. Not specifically contingent faculty but too important and hopeful to leave out. The Greek Syriza Left Coalition is polling at 30 right now and might well win the election if held today. Here is their program. Read it and dream or a better world, for us and them. (see below)

6. Texas A&M fired adjunct (for criticizing cross on university building) gets help from AAUP and Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/06/01/aaup-and-fire-question-treatment-adjunct

and sign petition in support of her

Hello, all:

Please take a moment to sign the online petition in support of adjunct professor Sissy Bradford who was fired by the University of Texas San Antonio for criticizing the university’s handling of the threats against her life and safety that she received after she openly objected to the installation of religious symbols on the newly constructed structures at the entrance to the campus.

http://www.change.org/petitions/texas-a-m-university-at-san-antonio-reinstate-fired-adjunct-professor-sissy-bradford

It’s very important that we support those adjuncts who are retaliated against. AAUP and FIRE have already weighed-in. Let’s make sure our voices are heard.

Best regards,

Matt Williams (NFM)

and a NYT update on the issue
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/us/crosses-are-gone-but-clash-lives-on-at-texas-am-san-antonio.html?_r=1

7. Sign petition to get other contingent workers (in this case home care workers) covered by labor and employment laws. Who knows better than us?!
https://www.change.org/petitions/stop-excluding-home-care-aides-from-minimum-wage-and-overtime

8. AAUP job

The AAUP is now accepting applications for a Regional Coordinator position in the Pacific Northwest. Please see the link below and forward to anyone who might be interested:

http://www.unionjobs.com/listing.php?id=1339

In Solidarity,

Kira Schuman

9. Contribute to the Adjunct Project’s Top 100 list
http://adjunctproject.com/adjunct-projects-top-100/

10. A famous labor historian calls for us to again define ourselves (the majority and especially the unionists) as “working class”
http://newlaborforum.cuny.edu/

11. News of mass Mexican march on their federal government against privatization. see below

12. A full update on the SME (the Mexico City electrical workers) whose union was a big support of our efforts to have COCAL in Mexico in the past, but are now under great attack. Our colleagues in Mexico (Marian Teresa and Arturo)have done labor education with this union for years.

13. U of WI TAA [the union that sparked the whole Madison uprising] refuses to endorse Gov. Walkers Demo Opponent and a comment and book suggestions from our Madison ATC PTUunion President colleague Nancy McCahon
See http://taa-madison.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/taa.madison to see than the TAA has spent many hours (days) working for Barrett, the opponent to WI Governor Scott Walker.

The TAA gets huge credit for being those who hurried to the Capitol in Feb. 2011 and camped in protest of “the bomb” that Walkerdropped to end collective bargaining that had been part of the state fabric for decades. If those students had not been there so quickly, it is doubtful that the rest of the protests would have developed as they did. Now that the TAA is not a “certified” union, everyone is watching to see how the UW treats them.

One of several good books about the WI uprising is Cut From Plain Cloth by Scott Weidemann http://www.cutfromplaincloth.com/index.html It is available at Amazon.com & Barnes & Noble, but don’t give them the business. Use his own site and ask Scott for the same discount as Amazon gives –

14. Ward Churchill gets another day in court over his firing at Colorado

15. Condition of Australian contingent faculty (not good)

16. Some very useful information on health insurance, since most of us do not get it paid by our employer, and if we do, it is not year round and/or secure
In 2011 74% of adults aged 19-64 had health insurance all year, but 26% lacked health insurance for part of the year.
Of those without insurance, 70% without coverage for more than a year, 12% for less than 3 months, 8% for 3-6 months, 10% for 6-12 months, 12% 1 year-2 years, 57% 2 years or longer.
Percentage of uninsured by percentage above federal poverty:
Less than 133% 133-249% 250-399% 400% or more
57% 36% 22% 12%

(Commonwealth Fund, quoted in Chicago Tribune 4/20/12)

Comment: for those who say we can’t afford universal medical insurance, let’s cancel it for everyone for one year and then discuss the matter again.

COCAL Updates

Updates in brief and links

1. Would we be better off with no labor law that the one we have? [Is there a more to this story for the organizing of the over 80% of con- tingent faculty in the US currently with no union representation?]
http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/13181/american_workers_shackled_to_labor_law

2. NLRB invites briefs on reexamination of Yeshiva case in current case of Park Point College and the faculty attempt there of organize with CWA
http://www.nlrb.gov/news/board-invites-briefs-question-faculty-member-status
and for background on that case http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/08/02/union

and for more analytical background http://chronicle.com/blogs/brainstorm/beyond-yeshiva-nlrb-tackles-both-church-and-state/31246

and from IHE http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/05/24/nlrb-action-suggests-possibility-reopening-yeshiva-case-faculty-unions

3. A provocative analysis of a famous social science experiment wirh great relevance to us by our WA colleague, Jack Longmate (see below)

4. The “New Economy Movement” by Gar Alperovitz, with some relevance to us
http://www.alternet.org/economy/155452/the_rise_of_the_new_economy_movement/?page=entire

5. Very good report on the Amazon shareholder meeting in Seattle and the protests and shareholder resolutions there, by Paul Haeder, “adjunct wage slave” activist at Amazon has twice fired whole groups of people for trying to unionize in the past. Use Powells (of Portland, OR) for your book purchases, through the union there, at http://www.ilwulocal5.com/support and the union gets a % of each sale.

6. Raritan Valley CC (NJ) adjunct union to protest at trustees meeting lack of progress in negotiations for contract.
http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2012/05/adjunct_instructors_at_raritan.html

7. Duquesne adjunct union (USW) to have NLRB representational election in June-July, by mail.
http://triblive.com/news/1857832-74/duquesne-university-bargaining-election-usw-adjuncts-board-mail-unit-adjunct

8. TN to allow any professor, contingent or regular, to have automatic credential to teach in high schools
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/may/24/measure-allows-professors-to-teach-at-high/

9. Greek brain drain as all university adjuncts are laid off and progressive [read realistic] graduate econ program is cancelled.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-24/greeces-brain-drain-has-begun

10. A blog by former adjunct on public higher ed in The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/the-good-news-and-the-bad-news-about-public-colleges/257615/

11. Repressive “Truncheon law” against Quebec student strikers causes backlash as both strike and popular support spread
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/may/24/quebec-truncheon-law-rebounds-student-strike

and a video, courtesy of Maria Peluso, pres. of the PT union a Concordia U in Montreal, of the now-daily demonstrations of what has become a social strike, not just limited to the privatization of higher education
http://indypendent.org/2012/05/23/red-square-revolt-quebec-students-strike
and this from Marie Blais of the largest contingent faculty union in Quebec
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/25/maple_spring_nearly_1_000_arrested

12. Some useful info on preparing student for the real world of work (like how to form a union and otherwise protect yourself on the job) see below

13. Kalamazoo CC (MI) adjuncts vote overwhelmingly for union rep by AFT local
http://tinyurl.com/d5x5jnl

14. Adjunct fired at Texas A&M (a public university) for objecting to cross displayed on top of university building
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2150442/University-professor-complained-crosses-campus-fired.html
and http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/05/29/adjunct-loses-courses-after-going-public-about-threats-she-received#.T8Tan5PAxzk.email

15. Interview with Guy Standing, author of The Precariat http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3426520.htm

16. “Revenge of the Underpaid Professors” on taking for profit companies into course selling
http://chronicle.com/article/Revenge-of-the-Underpaid/131919/

and some interesting comments and replies http://moreorlessbunk.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/suicide-squad-attack/

17. More protests in Quebec and Chile and I hear rumors of Mexico too?? [is neoliberalism, as least in education, being put on the ropes? http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/chilean-winter-maple-spring/10945

18. Quebec students were ordered to give the cops their planned march route and this is what they sent.
https://twitter.com/PWeiskel08/status/205679006195007489 (wait for the map to load)

19. Republican NLRB member resigns over leak to person connected to Romney
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303807404577430771449920122.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

20. Latest blog from the homeless adjunct (film roadtrip) http://junctrebellion.wordpress.com/tag/adjunct/

21. Higher ed professors and students in Brazil strike and ask for support
http://portal.andes.org.br/imprensa/noticias/imp-ult-783225410.pdf

COCAL Updates

COCAL updates in brief and links from Joe Berry:

1. Faculty at U of OR get agreement on mixed bargaining unit recognition (it includes ALL contingents) joint AFT/AAUP affiliate
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/newsroom/2012PRs/UOAgree.htm

2. Yet another article supports what most of us in the union movement have long said, as wealth goes up, empathy declines [or “the rich are different from you and me, they have more money…” and less empathy for others.]
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-wealth-reduces-compassion

3. Ad for adjunct job specifies that the person not be teaching anywhere else and reactions.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/04/25/usc-job-ad-rankles-adjuncts
and http://www.nationalreview.com/phi-beta-cons/296957/adjuncts-alarmed-over-usc-job-posting-nathan-harden
and http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/mandatory-monogamy-adjuncts

4. More on union recognition at U of OR
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/04/25/faculty-union-advances-u-oregon

5. Very interesting contrast in US press coverage between French and US elections. Are there lessons here for how the press frames our issues in higher ed? (such as making the extreme privatization and casualization trends of US seem normal here, but covering them differently, if at all, overseas.) The question, of course, is how to change or challenge this press frame.
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=10095

6. Student veterans group revokes charters of locals at over 20 for-profit colleges
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/04/26/veterans-group-lists-profits-where-it-revoked-charters

7. Capella U (a for profit) to offer college credit (classes) online to higher school students for a fee. [Is there anything not for sale if one has enough money? Didn’t Marx say something about “All that is solid melts into the air?”]
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/04/26/capella-posts-25000-free-tutorials-through-sophia

8. The for-profits’ war on philanthropy
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2012/04/26/essay-profit-colleges-undermine-traditional-role-philanthropy
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/04/26/capella-posts-25000-free-tutorials-through-sophia

9. Ten Ways for a non-tenure track faculty to get fired [some of these are good, some obvious and some just plain wrong IMHO, especially the one about not trusting (some) “help” (clerical staff). They can be our best allies, individually and collectively.]
http://chronicle.com/article/10-Ways-to-Get-Yourself-Fired/131630/

10. New memo reveals union suppression at Kaplan U in NYC
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/19/1084585/-BREAKING-Kaplan-University-Suppressing-Union-Organizing-In-NYC

11. Blog from union organizer at East-West U in Chicago
http://academeblog.org/2012/03/21/shooting-itself-in-the-foot-east-west-universitys-anti-union-campaign/

12. More on new play about for-profits
http://www.campusprogress.com/articles/theatre_of_the_absurd_former_for-profit_college_advisor_takes_his_stor/

13. Update on massive Quebec student strike agains huge tuition increases
http://www.marxist.com/quebec-revolt-analysis-april-2012.htm

14. Kaplan and other for-profits were part of ALEC and their ED task force
http://truth-out.org/news/item/8766-washington-posts-kaplan-and-other-for-profit-colleges-joined-alec

15. AAUP summer institute http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/about/events/si2012.htm

16. More on Gren River CC (WA) adjunct apartheid event and disposable teachers
http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/04/disposable-teachers/

Will Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Occupy the MLA Convention?

The Chronicle: Will Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Occupy the MLA Convention?

Feeling downsized, disrespected, and exploited, disgruntled members of the Modern Language Association—seeking to capitalize on the Occupy Wall Street movement’s messages about income disparity—have called for action in advance of the group’s annual meeting next month.

Those members, mostly faculty who are off the tenure track, have turned to blogs and a Twitter feed called OccupyMLA to air grievances about deteriorating labor conditions on their campuses for part-time instructors. Among their list of complaints: low wages; no health insurance; lack of access to office space, phones, and computers; abrupt decisions by administrators to cut programs and courses; criticisms of unions; little or no openness about spending; job insecurity; and fear of retribution if they speak out.

Unions Confront the Fault Lines Between Adjuncts and Full-Timers

The Chronicle: Unions Confront the Fault Lines Between Adjuncts and Full-Timers
Some look beyond the big unions for real improvement in working conditions

The largest organizers of college faculty unions—the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association—have made big strides in recruiting adjunct instructors and helping them gain representation through collective bargaining.

But the three groups have a long way to go before their membership and their leadership reflect the dominant role that adjunct instructors play in the higher-education work force, a Chronicle survey of the organizations reveals. Such instructors now account for about two-thirds of all faculty members employed by public and private colleges.

Prominent Advocate for Adjunct Faculty Clashes Again With Union Leaders

The Chronicle: Prominent Advocate for Adjunct Faculty Clashes Again With Union Leaders

Jack Longmate, a part-time English instructor who drew national attention this year by clashing with the National Education Association and its Olympic College affiliate over their representation of adjunct faculty, is once again at odds with union leaders.

NYU Adjuncts Win Pay Increases and Benefits for Summer Work

The Chronicle: NYU Adjuncts Win Pay Increases and Benefits for Summer Work
April 18, 2011, 6:33 pm

New York University’s 2,400 adjunct faculty members will receive substantial pay increases and benefits for the summer hours they work under the terms of a new contract with the private institution. The agreement, ratified last week, is the product of tough negotiations that had left adjunct faculty members poised to go on strike. In an attempt to deal with the earnings gap between adjunct faculty members who teach credit-bearing courses and the lesser-paid adjunct faculty members who teach noncredit courses, the contract calls for all adjunct faculty members’ pay to rise by the same dollar amount, so that the latter group will see its pay climb at a steeper rate. (The $4-per-contact-hour increase in the contract’s first year amounts to about a 3.6 percent raise for those who teach credit-bearing courses and a 6.7 percent increase for those who teach noncredit courses.) The agreement also builds on gains won by adjunct faculty members in their 2004 contract by, for the first time, offering health insurance, job security, and retirement benefits to those who work in the summer.

Survey on Contract Faculty closes November 30

The Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW), a widespread group of academic associations in the United States, is conducting an extensive survey on the salaries, benefits, working conditions of contract faculty in North America. Although the welcome page suggests that the survey is aimed at contract faculty working in the U.S., CAW is also clearly interested in data from Canada.

The survey takes less than ten minutes to complete about is open until Tuesday, November 30, and can be accessed at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VNNNRVS

University Lecturers (adjunct professors in US terms) of Korea Sit-in 960 Days

University Lecturers (adjunct professors in US terms) of Korea Sit-in 960 Days –
Revise the Higher Education Act of Korea to Restore the Status of Teachers (educator)!

Why are university lecturers committing suicide in Korea?

Very similar to more than half of Korean workers who are irregular workers, university lecturers who have no tenure (permanent status) are ‘irregular’ (without formal affiliation and benefits) and in constant job insecurity. Seven lecturers have committed suicide since 1998, facing hardship and humiliation after obtaining their PhDs with sacrifice and many hopes. For the sake of the lecturers, the university students and their parents, and a just and high quality education system, is time to reverse this and restore to lecturers and irregular professors the status of teacher (or educator).

What are the working conditions of the lecturers?
Lecturers are only part-time workers and are not considered ‘teachers’ with all the benefits of teachers under Korean law. Most lecturers are doing self-censorship to keep their affiliation and have the chance to be employed as full-time professors. Full-time professors and lecturers can not cooperate in research and education, the former work is heavy. Lecturers lecture half of all subjects taught but the salary is 5-10% of regular professors.

Universities have laid off 1,219 lecturers, in fact, out of 5,000 ~ 10,000 lecturers in 2009. One lecturer from Chung-Ang University, Jin Jungkwon, criticized the University president’s sexually harassing words to a girl student and was fired. Lecturers can be fired virtually without cause or hesitation. They cannot easily be active in unions or speak out about their exploitation for fear of job loss. Lecturers are often fired with a phone call or text message – it is so simple and easy to dismiss them.

The number of lecturers is 85,000 in Korea, while total number of irregular professors is 135,000. Yet the number of regular professors is 55,000.

Since 1998, seven lecturers have wanted to change the lecturer system and have committed suicide in their sorrow and frustration.
Dr. Han Kyoungseon of Keonkook University went to University of Texas at Austin and committed suicide, leaving her will to be carried out by KBS TV. Similarly, professor of physics Lee Seongik of Sogang University professor committed suicide in 2010.

How did this situation start?

Originally lecturers were recognized as teachers, under the Korean Constitution. However the ruling dictator, Park Chung-hee, in the 1970s, had wanted to keep the presidency permanently and kicked out the faculties and students who demanded democracy out of college.

He deprived the status of teacher (which has certain work benefits and title) from young lecturers who were critical of the dictatorship and taught students about democracy in 1977. This is same as in the Philippines under Marcos, or Indonesia under Suharto. This system is a major cause of the corruption of the university.

Three ruling and opposition party members have submitted bills to revise the Higher Education Act to get back status of teacher to lecturers in the 17th session of National Assembly. But due to lobbying and oppression by the Korean Council for University Education and Korea government’s irresponsibility, the same bills still have not been voted on in the current 18th legislative session.

Only two elderly lecturers are continuing to do 960 days of sit-in in a small tent in front of the National Assembly since 7 September 2007. Lecturers, students, parents and citizens are doing solidarity demonstrations at 12 places nationwide.

What is the impact on Korean society?

Korea has entered into society of knowledge after industrialization. The college entrance rate is 84 percent of high school graduates. 80% of all universities are privately owned. Universities in Korea use people’s high ambition for education in a commercial way. The fees of university as high as second in the world after the United States.

The university uses education based on memorization, a method of an industrial society. Students only seek credits and achievements. In this way, students are unmotivated to work hard to learn good things for the community and the value of sustainability in a knowledg-based society.

Kim Yeseul, a junior of Korea University, said she couldn’t any longer learn at the university that dropped to the status of a puppet of capital and industry, and she quit the school in 2010. Universities of Korea are on the eve of a ‘68 Revolution of Paris, where students demanded jobs and boycotted a memorization-based education.

This problem could be solved by revision of Higher Education Act that get back the status of teacher to lecturers. This is way of Korean students to learn and practice democracy, conscience, sharing and solidarity to the neighboring countries and people.

“Return Our Professors Who Got Laid Off! We Condemn the mass layoff of 88 Irregular Professors!”

The proportion of college students from Korea in the USA and of American university PhD graduates in South Korea universities is very high. The number of Korean students registered in the United States is 108,396 in 2010. They are second highest number of all nationalities of people who study in USA.

Among the foreign universities with the highest number of doctoral degrees between 1999 ~ 2003, the second is Korea’s Seoul National University’s 1,655 members, the 5th is Yonsei University’s 720 members, 8th is Korea University’s 445 members.

50.5 percent of full-time faculties of Seoul National University had received their PhD in the United States in 2005, and that of the social sciences is 82%. In comparison, only 4.8% of the full-time faculty of the University of Tokyo had received their PhD in the US.

From the standpoint of international universities, South Korea is a ‘doctor’s grave’ to students returning home. Many students come to the universities of South Korea from abroad to study. However they learn from lecturers who are deprived of the status of teacher, so they cannot easily receive the spirit of critical, collaborative, creative and sustainable learning.

So the revision of the Higher Education Act in South Korea to get back the status of teacher to lecturers is required internationally.

Show your support for a group of workers who can not easily speak out for fear of their future careers – lecturers and irregular professors!

Take a step to support workers, fulfill the education rights of students, and restore integrity and hope to the education system in Korea!

Please send an email to the persons as below with the letter of “Help to pass the bill of Higher Education Act in the Korean National Assembly to get back the status of teachers to university lecturers in Korea”.

President of Republic of Korea, Lee Myung-bak, webmaster@president.go.kr

Head of the Committee for Education and Science & Technology of Korean National Assembly, Lee Jong-kul, anyang21@hanmail.net

Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ahn Byung-man, webmaster@mest.go.kr
Head of Korean Council for University Education & President of Korea University, Lee Ki-su, e-kisu@korea.ac.kr

We want the solidarity of the UN, ILO and all supporting people in the world to this issue.

Attention: Ms. Kim Dongay
Center to Get Back Status of Teacher for Lecturer & Normalization of University Education

Visit our website: http://stip.or.kr

Mobile: +82-10-9100-1824
Address: Youngdeungpokoo Sindorimdong 186-5, 2F. Nodongnet. 150-832. Seoul Korea
Donations: Post Office, 014027-02-051521

To contact us for more information:
Address: Youngdeungpokoo Sindorimdong 186-5, 2F. Nodongnet. 150-832. Seoul Korea
Donations: Post Office, 014027-02-051521

Police to probe ‘dirty deals’ for professorship at Korean universities

Police to probe ‘dirty deals’ for professorship at universities

Police will investigate allegations raised in a suicide note by an hourly lecturer who accused some universities of having requested kickbacks in exchange for professor jobs.

Gwangju Seobu Police Station said Thursday that its officers are trying to verify the contents of the five-page suicide note left by a 45-year-old hourly university lecturer at Chosun University, identified only by his surname Seo, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The note is reportedly addressed to President Lee Myung-bak.

Seo also alleged that he was forced to write a number of academic papers on behalf of his supervising professor, insisting all the papers were published in the professor’s name. Investigators are currently questioning his family members and colleagues at the university to find out what drove him to end his life.

With Seo’s bereaved family members moving to take legal action against those implicated, the police will likely soon start an investigation into Seo’s allegations that he was asked to provide tens of millions of won by some universities in return for a permanent teaching position.

It is a widely-known secret that many universities here, particularly financially troubled private schools, demand large sums of money in return for a teaching position.

According to the police, Seo said in his note that he was offered the chance to buy a faculty position at a private university in South Jeolla Province for 60 million won two years ago. In March this year, he was also asked to donate 100 million for professorship by a private university in Gyeonggi Province.

Seo alleged that Chosun University was trying to kick him out, saying he had no choice but to kill himself under the mounting stress. “The country should do something for part-time lecturers. We also must do something to change the increasingly corrupt Korean society. I want an investigation into what I went through,’’ he was quoted as saying by the police.

The dead lecturer also claimed that he wrote a total of 54 thesis and other academic papers for his supervising professor and they were all published in the professor’s name, demanding investigation into the matter.

After receiving a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Seoul, he enrolled in graduate school at Chosun University and received a Masters degree and Ph.D. in English literature. Since 2000, he has been working as a lecturer at the university.

Police suspect that after failing to gain a permanent position two months ago, he became extremely disheartened and decided to take his own life.

Meanwhile, part-time lecturers at Chosun University plan to set up a memorial altar on the campus to pay tribute to him and organize a rally to demand law enforcement authorities get to the bottom of the corruption allegations raised by Seo.

A long struggle for part-time lecturers in Korea

A long struggle for part-time lecturers
Couple lives in tent for 1,000 days in protest
By Park Si-soo

For 1,000 days, a couple in their 60s has lived in a worn-out, small tent pitched on a sidewalk leading toward the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, demanding the passage of bills to improve part-time lecturers’ employment status and working conditions.

Kim Young-kon, 62, and his wife Kim Dong-ay, 64, started their protest along with other part-time lecturers on Sept. 7, 2007 when then three major political parties submitted the bill.

Initially, they thought the legislation would be passed soon but their hopes have not materialized yet. In the early days of the protest, many part-time lecturers joined them but now just the couple remains.

Mr. Kim regularly lectures on Korean labor history at a Seoul university part-time and his wife once taught Chinese history. Last winter, Kim’s wife collapsed from chronic fatigue by constant exposure to cold and since then has trouble walking.

Despite the hardship, they are still eating, sleeping and studying under the extreme conditions in their form of silent demand for the establishment of legal grounds for the increase of part-time lecturers’ wages and other improvements to working conditions.

“Nothing has changed,” Mr. Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times. “We will continue our struggle until the bills we have fought for will be passed.”
Paychecks and welfare for some 70,000 part-time lecturers, who cover nearly 40 percent of classes at universities nationwide, have stalled for decades despite their rapid growth. Unlike regular professors, they have not been guaranteed “teacher’ status.”

A report issued by the education ministry in April said a part-time lecturer’s annual income was estimated at 7.68 million won ($6,380), way below per capita gross national income of 20.45 million won last year. Part-time lecturers are not protected by pension or insurance schemes that are provided by schools to other professors. Nine lecturers have committed suicide since 1999, denouncing the poor working conditions.

“They are being exploited without official contracts,” Mr. Kim said.

Lecturers began to receive such unfair treatment from 1977 when the Park Chung-hee authoritarian government downgraded their legal status as a punitive measure against those who instigated students to stand up against the government.

‘Also meaningful for students’
The poor working conditions drew fresh attention after a part-time lecturer took his own life, leaving behind a suicide note in which he accused some universities of having requested kickbacks in exchange for full-time professor jobs. A police investigation of the alleged universities is underway.
The tragic news provided a snapshot of long-established corruptive practices in academia, but at the same time, gave great leverage to the rally.
Scores of supporters from civic and parents’ groups and students’ associations are working with the couple at present, staging a one-man protest at twelve locations nationwide.

“It’s a positive sign, but I don’t think the increasing attention is a surefire way of ensuring the amendment,” he said, calling for more active participation of college students who he claims are firsthand victims under the current system.

“They think this struggle is only for ourselves (part-time lecturers). No, it’s for all,” he said. “With part-time lecturers covering nearly half of all classes, improved working conditions for them should serve positively to students’ achievements.”

At present, two bills designed to upgrade their status by Rep. Lee Sang-min of the ruling Grand National Party and Rep. Kim Jin-pyo of the main opposition Democratic Party, are pending at the National Assembly. But their endorsement is unlikely in near the future as they have been put on the back burner.

“I will never give up,” Kim said, with his eyes showing some fatigue. “I strongly believe this campaign is valuable not only for lecturers but also our society.”

Following the one-hour interview, he rushed to a civic group building for a lecture.

“I’m supposed to sleep in the tent tonight. It’s quite nice to sleep there thanks to the warm weather,” he smiled, showing off a thick draft of his new book on emerging labor issues in Asian states. “It’s my home and research lab as well as the campaign headquarters.”
An event to celebrate the 1,000th-day anniversary of the protest will be held at 6 p.m. today in front of the tent.