June 28, 2011

From Inside HigherED today:

At a session Monday at the annual meeting of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, two lawyers advised their colleagues about the challenges and best approaches for colleges and universities as they try to craft policies to deal with the burgeoning numbers of part-time instructors. ( Link to entire article below).

View from Across the Bargaining Table

 

 

May 27, 2011

Adjuncts Summer 2011
Unemployment Compensation

The Adjunct Organizing Committee  is still in the midst of legal hearings on the shape of the potential bargaining unit before an examiner from the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board.  We can’t move forward until this gets settled – and we  have an election to  get union representation..

However, there is something important you can do for yourself right now. Apply for unemployment benefits. That’s obvious if you have no course assignment for next semester or if the number of courses you teach has been reduced for the fall. But anyone not teaching this summer can apply between semesters.

As an adjunct, you may believe you are not entitled to unemployment benefits. However, we encourage you to investigate this for yourself, and see if you are eligible. Many other adjuncts have applied and received benefits, so don't hesitate. We encourage you to apply the day your contract expires, and, if you're denied, appeal the decision. Go to the Pennsylvania state unemployment website for more information:http://www.uc.pa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/uc_pa_gov/11449/eligibility/567092

I personally have found tremendously helpful the pamphlet from the Chicago Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor. You can download a revised PDF or order a printed copy from their web site,   http://www.chicagococal.org/index.html.   Just scroll down the page.

Keep in mind we are simply trying to provide you with useful and helpful information. None of this is intended as legal advice.

For more information, or to speak to other adjuncts who have negotiated the unemployment system, please contact:
Carol Jenkins   cjenkins27@gmail.com
Michal Meshejian     mmeshejian@verizon.net
Frank Fucile      fafucile@gmail.com
Dan Friedlaender      dff036@gmail.com
Pam Detrixhe    tp.detrixhe@verizon.net
Nick D’Arecca      ndarecca@gmail.com

Also, please let us know the outcome of your application. We are interested in the success rate of adjuncts who've applied for benefits. Send your results to  taupaft@aol.com with Adjunct UC in the subject line. If you’d like to be on the adjuncts Google group for more discussion of this and other AOC topics, send me an email.

Sincerely,
Regina Bannan
Chair, TAUP Adjunct Organizing Committee
regina.bannan@verizon.net

 

 

April 4 , 2011

1000 + Rally Against Budget Cuts

To all those who came to support us- Thank You! - for helping TAUP send a strong message to Harrisburg!

THE ISSUE FOR STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES

Gov. Corbett wants to slash 50% of state funding for Pennsylvania’s colleges and universities.  Schools will face shortfalls of tens of millions of dollars.  Devastating changes will follow. 

Temple estimates they might have to raise tuition 40%.  Each 10% will cost students about $1,250.  A 40% increase will require Temple students to pay $5,000 more for tuition next year.  

• Students will have to borrow more and will leave school with higher debt that will take years more to pay.  
• Tuition increases will not solve all the budget problems.  Universities will have to cut basic functions.  University downsizing will mean for students: 
  • Fewer instructors
  • Less individual attention from faculty
  • Fewer sections of required courses
  • Less flexible course scheduling 
  • Fewer programs or majors
  • Longer time needed to finish degrees

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT STUDENTS AND EDUCATION

Go  to Temple’s TALON (Temple Advocates Legislative Outreach Network) site at http://www.temple.edu/government/talon.htm and sign the electronic petition. 

Tell your state legislators now you want fair funding for education.  Call their offices and ask to meet face to face.  Contact TAUP for more information on how to reach them.(taupaft@aol.com or 215-763-2287) 

Write letters to the Inquirer and the Daily News and your local papers saying Pennsylvania cannot afford Corbett’s drastic cuts.  Education is not a luxury, it’s a necessity and a right.

                   

 

March 25 , 2011

Rally For Education & Worker Rights,
Broad St & Montgomery Ave, April 4, 3:30-5
Protest PA 50% Cut to Higher Ed
Honor Dr. M.L. King, Jr.'s Legacy

Come show your support for education and worker rights at the WE ARE ONE Rally. AFT President Randi Weingarten will speak at the rally on Monday, April 4, in front of the Liacouras Center on Broad Street, as well as TAUP President Art Hochner, and other speakers. We will address the cuts in education funding in Pennsylvania, the outrageous 50% cut in Temple's appropriations proposed by Governor Tom Corbett, and the attacks on workers' rights in states all over the US.

TAUP is working with other unions on campus - TUGSA, AFSCME local 1723, PASNAP, AFSCME 1199C and others - and in Philadelphia to organize the rally and to get our members to attend. TAUP members and our friends should show up in great numbers to greet President Weingarten. Even if you aren't usually on campus on Monday afternoon, please make every effort to get attend.

The AFT has joined with other labor unions and allies to stand together and participate in the “We Are One” Week of Action starting April 4.in support of fairness, justice, democracy and workers’ voice. Activities will be taking place all over Philadelphia, our state and many other states. By standing together as one, we can do everything possible to protect the values that make our country great, including our voice in our own destiny.

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn., where he was standing with sanitation workers demanding their dream of a better life. Today, the right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a middle-class life are under attack as never before.

Join us to make April 4, 2011, a day to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin and dozens of other states where corporate-bought politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for.

As we have seen in Wisconsin, and also in Indiana and Ohio, tens of thousands of union members are standing up, standing tall and speaking out in solidarity against all these attacks on their rights and our values. Our allies include students, parents, farmers, firefighters, people of faith and people of good will, who have joined us—some in spirit, some in the halls of state capitols—day in and day out.

We can’t help but be inspired and motivated by this collective action.

Now our challenge is to take this moment and turn it into a movement. And the way to do this is by re-energizing America’s labor movement, which is the only institution fighting for working people at the ballot box and the bargaining table.

Come to the rally! TAUP will provide signs saying "Budget Cuts Hurt Students". SAVE THE DATE - Monday, April 4, 3:30 to 5:00 in front of the Liacouras Center.

 

 

February 16, 2011

UPDATE ON ADJUNCT ELECTION CAMPAIGN

The Adjunct Organizing Committee (AOC) of the Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP) has been busy.

In late December, TAUP filed a petition with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) for an election to determine whether adjuncts would be added to the TAUP collective-bargaining unit. Attached to that petition were the authorization cards signed by Temple adjuncts as an expression of interest in holding such an election. Currently, TAUP and the administration are discussing legal issues related to the next steps in the process. It seems likely that we will not reach agreement on one or more of those issues; in that case, a PLRB examiner will begin hearings on March 21 to decide the unresolved matters.

In the meantime, the AOC is collecting information from each adjunct. If you are an adjunct and did not receive a communication from us, please contact taupaft@aol.com. Until we resolve our issues with the administration and receive lists from them, our lists are not perfect.

In December, we used these lists to inform adjuncts about Unemployment Insurance for those who did not get classes this spring – or whose classes were reduced. We’ve heard back: many have been successful in using the system for its true purpose – to protect workers whose employment is contingent.

We also have received more publicity than we ever imagined we could. Keep checking the column on the left for new articles and other coverage. Let any media outlets know of our struggle.

We will send further e-mail updates as the legal process takes its course and we proceed with preparations for the election. As always, thank you for your interest in this campaign. If you’d like to be more involved, also contact taupaft@aol.com. We will need everyone’s help as we go forward!