Adjunct Faculty Conflict Heats Up at Chicago's Columbia
College
By Kari Lydersen
In These Times
April 1, 2011
http://www.inthesetimes.org/working/entry/7145/columbia_college_adjuncts_in_negotiations/

CHICAGO-Seven months after their contract expired,
adjunct faculty at Columbia College in Chicago spent
Friday negotiating with administrators they say have
violated labor law and unfairly cut adjuncts' teaching
hours while replacing them with less-senior instructors.

Members of the P-Fac union and supporters picketed
outside the college administration building as
negotiations went on inside. P-Fac spokesperson Nancy
Traver said pay isn't the main issue for adjunct
faculty, but rather job security and respect for
adjuncts who in many cases have been teaching for a
decade or more at the arts-oriented private college with
multiple buildings in downtown Chicago.

Math teacher Susan Tyma has been at Columbia since 1997,
and has twice been nominated for teacher of the year.
She said one of her classes was cut 10 days before the
start of this semester, and someone with five years less
seniority was appointed to teach the class. "It
definitely shows a lack of respect," Tyma said. "And
they claim they are making decisions in the interest of
the students, but they never notified the students. They
pulled a bait and switch on the students."

Tyma also lost a class last semester, knocking down her
expected annual pay by a third. Traver said the union
has documented more than 100 senior adjuncts who lost
teaching hours with short notice, in many cases replaced
by less-senior adjuncts. The union charges class sizes
have also been expanded in order to cut classes.

"The college is taking hours away from higher paid
adjuncts and giving them to people with less
experience," said Traver, noting that entry level pay
for a three-credit class is $2,000 per semester, while
top-level is $4,700. "There are people who've been
teaching here 20 years faithfully semester after
semester, and then lost their classes."

The National Labor Relations Board recently ruled in
favor of the union on an unfair labor practices charge
wherein a photography class was reduced from four to
three credit hours, yet students and teachers still were
expected to spend four hours a week in the classroom,
according to Traver. A statement from vice president for
academic affairs Louise Love said that the union has
prioritized the photography department issue, which she
said affects 11 union members, and hence derailed
contract negotiations. Love's statement also said that
P-Fac has "sidetracked negotiations by raising non-
contract personnel issues," and that the union has
canceled at least five negotiating sessions.

"As always, Columbia remains committed to a cooperative
and collegial bargaining process," Love's statement
says. P-Fac has complained that they first approached
the administration to discuss the contract in January
2010, and they submitted a proposed new contract in
October. They said the administration did not make any
counter-proposals or agree to begin negotiating until
this week. Love's statement said this is a
mischaracterization, and said the administration has
already spent 140 hours bargaining and has submitted
proposals to the union.

P-Fac has filed multiple complaints with the NLRB,
including six headed to arbitration, charging
retaliation, failure to bargain, unfair bargaining and
interference with the union, regarding the contract
process and separate issues. Traver said one of the
charges is related to administration requests to reveal
the names of adjuncts quoted in the union newsletter.

"People who have spoken out have had their classes taken
away," Traver said. Traver said administrators have told
them that the percentage of classes taught by senior
adjuncts is higher than ever. But Traver said they have
little confidence in the numbers until the
administration shows them the actual statistics.
Columbia College like most institutions suffered
declines in its endowment because of the economic
crisis. But the endowment has recovered substantially,
and the school recently purchased a new pricey downtown
building.

"You see these attacks on collective bargaining at the
state levels, and they say it's a budget issue," said P-
Fac president Diana Vallera. "At this private
institution there's not a money issue, yet we're seeing
the same things happening." Adjuncts from other Chicago
colleges joined the P-Fac picket, describing the lack of
security for adjuncts as a citywide - and a national -
issue.

After more than a year of organizing, history professor
Curtis Keyes Jr. noted that adjuncts at East-West
University, another highly diverse downtown campus, will
this semester take a unionization vote. As described on
this blog last year, East-West adjuncts say the
administration has run a vigorous anti-union campaign.

"We're cautiously optimistic we'll get a yes vote,"
Keyes said. "If we don't get a union, adjuncts will
still be treated as second-class citizens."

___________________________________________

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