Central Michigan U Adjuncts Need our Support!

URGENT! Here's the link: please click and send your e-letter to support Central Michigan adjuncts' unionization efforts. http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Ross_letter.

Thanks!

New Faculty Majority Newsletter debuts!

Here's a link you won't want to miss -- New Faculty Majority's newsletter hot off the virtual presses! We can look forward to NFM's May launch of a UI benefits initiative...certainly the "topic du jour!"

Thanks, Vanessa!

Adjuncts have a voice at Labor Notes Conference, April 23-25

"When Adjunct Faculty are Treated Unfairly, We Care!" This was the rallying cry on the front of a postcard my colleagues and I from Wayne State University's Union of Part-Time Faculty distributed this past weekend at the Labor Notes Conference in Dearborn, Michigan. The postcards are addressed to Obama's Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and will be sent to her office as part of the union's attempt to support all of the adjunct unionization efforts going on as we speak. The postcard itself is generic -- not labeled as a Wayne State piece per se, so I will be making it available on this site in the next few days, as well. At that point, I will send out a message via the adjunct "airwaves" and ask for national participation in this effort. 

I was pleasantly surprised by how receptive conference goers were to the adjunct message--I felt like Johnny Appleseed, spreading the word all weekend, and I think it may bear fruit. Two separate encounters with Jobs With Justice representatives were quite helpful--both individuals were interested in looking further at adjunct issues in their respective states.

Amazingly, one full-time professor from a Chicago university urged me and adjuncts in general to "blame the full-timers!" I was careful to say I didn't think full-timers should be held responsible, necessarily, but I did concede that part-timers and full-timers are often pitted against each other, to the benefit of corporate administrators. A story for another day.

It was so encouraging that everywhere I went at the conference, someone had an adjunct story to tell--on behalf of a family member, a spouse, a child, etc.-- and everyone seemed aware of, if not outraged by, of our list of woes. It convinced me more than ever that we just have to open our mouths and tell our stories -- the time is ripe!

EMU Adjuncts Need Our Support!

Today EMU’s part-time lecturers are treated as temporary workers with minimal pay and no employment rights. They need our support in their quest to join with EMU's full time lecturers in a single lecturers' union. The existing lecturers’ union (EMUFT) has invited them to join in providing better education by improving the working conditions of all its members, but school administration has terminated discussions. If you're so-moved, here's contact info you can use to support EMU's adjuncts efforts -- we are in this together!

Pres. Susan Martin: 202 Welch Hall – sue.martin@emich.edu – 734.487.2211
EMU Board of Regents: 201-B Welch Hall; Secretary Jackie Kurtz emu.regents@emich.edu - 734.487.2410
Roy Wilbanks – Chair – roywilbanks@aol.com – 734-395-2011

Adjunct Humor from Ohio!

Reposted with permission from the adj-l discussion list. Writer/teacher Maria Shine Stewart spells out the ABCs of Adjunct life. Thanks, Maria!

Adjunct acrobat: One who stays supremely flexible
Badjunct: Unfortunate stereotype
Cladjunct: Colleague with scheduling luck
Dadjunct: One balancing parenting and teaching
Egadjunct: Typical reaction upon hearing course load
Fadjunct: One who follows the trends
Gladjunct: Opposite of "sadjunct"
Gradjunct: One completing an/other degree while teaching
Hadjunct: Remember position you had before reassignment, budget cuts, etc.
Idjunct: One given to too much self-indulgence
Jazzjunct: One who recharges while commuting with innovative music
Kitkatdjunct: One who stops at vending machines rather than taking meal breaks
Ladjunct: The newbie
Myriadjunct: One who works in multiple departments of the same school
Nadjunct: Someone who gives it up
Operadjunct: Your colleague with the big voice
Plaidjunct: Your color-coordinated colleague
Quadjunct: What you become when you improvise to conference with students outside
Rapidadjunct: Colleague hired at last minute
Sadjunct: Opposite of "gladjunct"
T.a.djunct: See "gradjunct"
Unsinkableadjunct: Got zero hits
Vegetarianadjunct: One whose compassion extends to animals
Wadejunct: What you became the day you forgot your boots
Xanadjunct: One who dreams of exotic places
Yaddayaddayadjunct: What you sound like to someone who really isn't listening to adjunct issues
Zigzagadjunct: What happens if you forget the day of the week and drive to the wrong school

Maria Shine Stewart teaches and writes in South Euclid, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She has been published locally and nationally. Humor is one of Cleveland's major exports but in her case, she cultivates it close to home.

IUPCI Adjuncts Organize!

Here's a hopeful story from Indianapolis!

A Day in the Life of an Adjunct Instructor

Here's a great video posted on You Tube about "la vida loca." Nine classes, 200 students?!

AFT FACE - Calif. Assembly Committee Passes Bills Addressing Academic Staffing Issues

AFT FACE - Calif. Assembly Committee Passes Bills Addressing Academic Staffing Issues

Health Benefits but a dream???

Here's a group of adjuncts who went the extra mile to find their own health care provider, but their university can't break its "rules" to support their effort. What is wrong with this picture?!

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/04/06/insurance

U.Michigan Adjuncts Protest Dismissal of English Instructor

Congratulations to U. of M. adjuncts for their solidarity!

The Safety Net: Critics Say Firm Weakens Safety Net as It Fights Jobless Claims

The Safety Net: Critics Say Firm Weakens Safety Net as It Fights Jobless Claims
Everyone needs to be aware of this!

Under-Secretary Kanter responds...

Dear Raye,

Thank you for your email. There is tremendous variation throughout our country in the ways that unions and management have and have not addressed the challenges raised in your email. We look forward to working on ways that the federal government can collaborate with your national leadership to enable local labor and management leaders to examine examples of agreements that can serve as models for reforms for local consideration. Thank you for writing to me.

Best,
Martha

Martha Kanter
Under Secretary
U.S. Department of Education

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams!"

-- Eleanor Roosevelt