Will of Council granted to Pittsburgh-area Adjuncts

Photo by Jonathan Ramady

Adjunct supporters gather in front of Pittsburgh City Council chambers from l-r: Randa Ruge, Dee Bruce, Rebecca Taksel, Samey Lee, Sharon Brady, Fr. Neil McCaulley, Robin Sowards, Matthew Ussia, Emily Rodgers, Clint Benjamin, and student supporters from CCAC and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. The Action Network Needs your Support! Please consider a small visa/mastercard donation with our secure setup. Your transactions are all secure and are tax deductable.

Pittsburgh, Pa., On March 4, 2014, Pittsburgh City Council members supported approximately 7,000 non-tenure-track adjunct faculty currently working in Pittsburgh-area non-profit universities and colleges with a Will of Council. Please see below the Will of Council:

WILL OF COUNCIL

WHEREAS,there are at least 7,000 non-tenure-track “adjunct” faculty currently working in Pittsburgh area non-profit colleges and universities, most of whom are classified as “part time” by their employers in order to avoid having to provide them with health, retirement, and other benefits; and,

WHEREAS,non-tenure-track faculty constitute more than half of the higher education faculty in the Pittsburgh area. There are currently over 170,000 students emolled in college programs in the Pittsburgh area who increasingly depend on the instruction and guidance of non-tenure-track faculty members; and,

WHEREAS,students can pay up to $60,000 in tuition every year to attend a college or university in the Pittsburgh area. Non-tenure-track faculty members should be provided with compensation and institutional support sufficient for them to carry out their vital roles in the academic pursuits of Pittsburgh’s students; and,

WHEREAS,most non-tenure-track faculty members are paid at or below the federal poverty threshold by their academic employers, and are thus often forced to take on multiple course loads or other jobs. Most non-tenure-track faculty members have no job security from one semester to the next, regardless of the quality of their work or their years of service; and,

WHEREAS,most Pittsburgh-area colleges and universities do not provide health care benefits to their “part-time” non-tenure-track faculty members; and,

WHEREAS,non-profit institutions of higher education are granted various benefits by the public in exchange for those institutions providing high-quality instructional and research services to the public, and those institutions are therefore obligated to meet the basic legal and moral standards of the Pittsburgh community; and,

WHEREAS,all faculty in the City of Pittsburgh, like other workers, should be paid fair wages and benefits that allow them to support themselves and their families; and,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Pittsburgh City Council endorses the efforts of the Pittsburgh-area non-tenure-track faculty, to form unions and enjoins all institutions of higher education in the Pittsburgh area to remove all impediments, legal and otherwise, to forming a productive collective bargaining relationship with any union selected by the majority of the non-tenure-track faculty in a bargaining unit and to bargain with the said union in good faith.

SPONSORED BY: COUNCILMAN R. DANIEL LAVELLE

CO-SPONSORED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS:

DARLENE M. HARRIS, REV. RICKY V. BURGESS, BRUCE A. KRAUS, THERESA

KAIL-SMITH, DANIEL GILMAN, DEBORAH GROSS, NATALIA RUDIAK, AND

COREY O’CONNOR