Rutgers University adjuncts reach 'revolutionary' contract deal

[Tango Two]

"After more than a year of forceful activism by our members and fierce tenacity by our team at the bargaining table, we are thrilled to say we have won truly meaningful pay increases," union President Teresa Politano and Vice President David Chapman wrote in a joint letter to part-time lecturers on Tuesday.


https://www.mycentraljersey.com/sto...-multiple-pay-raises-new-contract/3681733002/

 

[srru86]

NJ Spotlight
SOME PART-TIME LECTURERS NOT HAPPY WITH NEW RUTGERS CONTRACT
The reality is the adjuncts are as much, if not more so, an afterthought to the tenure track professors that drive the union as they are to the administration.
Unless they are semi-retired, or doing it as a side job, most adjuncts won't be happy, understandably so, until they get into a tenure track slot.

 

[retired711]

NJ Spotlight
SOME PART-TIME LECTURERS NOT HAPPY WITH NEW RUTGERS CONTRACT
The reality is the adjuncts are as much, if not more so, an afterthought to the tenure track professors that drive the union as they are to the administration.
Unless they are semi-retired, or doing it as a side job, most adjuncts won't be happy, understandably so, until the get into a tenure track slot.

Many adjuncts (I don't have numbers) mainly work at full-time jobs, and so teach just because they like it or want to earn a little extra money. Adjuncts in the law school, for instance, are lawyers who like to teach. The adjuncts who are bad off are those who string together a number of different adjunct jobs to make a living. (The law school would never hire such a person as an adjunct.) You're right, for them, there's no hope but getting on a tenure-track, which is *very* difficult for an adjunct to do. Some adjuncts in this category would be better off giving up their dreams of academia, and find something else to do with their lives. But that's hard, of course, for someone who struggled for years to get a Ph.D., but finds there are no tenure-track jobs.

 

[srru86]

Yes, unlike the adjuncts in the professions or STEM, who have other reasonable career options, the folks that have a humanities or social science PhD and are stringing together a living from semester to semester contracts are on the wrong side of a harshly divided two-track academic system not to mention a job market that is not going to pay a premium for their credential.

 

[rudad02]

Some progress. Good for them.

 

[Upstream]

I'm not sure adjuncts are really being treated unfairly. They are part time lecturers, not full faculty with all the research and administrative responsibilities that come with being full faculty.

If they get $6000 for a 3 credit course, they are working 3 hours per week for 16 weeks (including exams). Even if you assume 6 hours per week to account for prep and out-of-classroom time, they are working 96 hours per semester, and are being paid more than $60 per hour. That's not bad for a part time job.

The problem is for those who want their part time job to be a full time job. They would have to string together six 3-credit courses for fall, spring, and summer. At $6000 per course, they'd earn over $100,000 per year. Not bad, but no benefits, job security, and it is probably close to impossible to get that many courses.

 

[retired711]

I'm not sure adjuncts are really being treated unfairly. They are part time lecturers, not full faculty with all the research and administrative responsibilities that come with being full faculty.

If they get $6000 for a 3 credit course, they are working 3 hours per week for 16 weeks (including exams). Even if you assume 6 hours per week to account for prep and out-of-classroom time, they are working 96 hours per semester, and are being paid more than $60 per hour. That's not bad for a part time job.

The problem is for those who want their part time job to be a full time job. They would have to string together six 3-credit courses for fall, spring, and summer. At $6000 per course, they'd earn over $100,000 per year. Not bad, but no benefits, job security, and it is probably close to impossible to get that many courses.

I don't think it's realistic to consider part-timers as having only three hours a week of prep and out-of-classroom time. Doing a course the first time takes a lot of prep, and even when I had taught a course many times, I needed much more than three hours to prepare for the next class. If nothing else, I had to get my notes back into my head, and I almost always found ways to do something different (and I hoped better) than what I had done in the past. In addition, part-time faculty who aspire to be full-time faculty are going to want to spend time trying to write articles so that someone will hire them.

Keep in mind also that most courses are not graded by a single final exam (as challenging and as time-consuming as that can be to grade), but on the basis of multiple assignments, such as papers and projects. Grading those takes a *lot* of time.

Being a part-timer is not at all an easy way of making some extra money. A good part-timer really has to be dedicated.

 

[srru86]

NJ Spotlight
Part-time lecturers ratify new contract with Rutgers