Washington University adjunct faculty vote to form a union

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Stl Today

By Koran Addo

Adjunct instructors at Washington University have voted to form a union.

Out of 404 eligible voters, 138 voted for collective bargaining, while 111 adjunct faculty voted against.

The ballots counted Monday mark a significant victory for a group known as the working class of the academic community.

Adjunct instructors are typically part-time, low-wage earners who teach classes when teaching departments are short-staffed or when full-time faculty are bogged down with heavy course loads.

FULL story at link.



Brookings Hall at Washington University.

Koran Addo is the higher education reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/washington-university-adjunct-faculty-vote-to-form-a-union/article_bec3174e-35bf-535f-a28a-49babd2518b3.html

[Posteritatis]

1. Happy about the result, sad about the turnout. (nt)

[brush]

2. Woo Hoo for unionized adjuncts.

Been there, done that.

You totally have not job or income security.

[brer cat]

3. Good for them.

Too bad the adjunct instructors can't coach football.

[diane in sf]

4. Most (70%?) professors are now adjunct, while administrator numbers and salaries grow exponentially

[progressoid]

5. Yep. And don't forget coaches.

[Unknown Beatle]

6. And don't forget about the ever increasing

cost of a college education and like you wrote, increasing salaries of administrators and coaches.

[Adrahil]

7. Yeah.... the article makes it sound like...

Adjuncts are just part-time fill-in help. The reality is that they form the bulk of many university teaching staffs, particularly in the humanities.

[enlightenment]

8. Exactly.

I don't know where that reporter got their information, but a line like this:

Adjunct instructors are typically part-time, low-wage earners who teach classes when teaching departments are short-staffed or when full-time faculty are bogged down with heavy course loads.

hasn't been accurate for thirty years.