Am I required to join the union?

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Membership in the union is required for both part-time and full-time contingent faculty at Ithaca College. As our collective bargaining agreement states:

 

It shall be a condition of employment that all bargaining unit faculty members covered by this Agreement who are members of the  Union in good standing as of its effective or execution date, whichever is later, shall remain members in good standing, and those who are not members in good standing as of the effective or execution date of this Agreement, whichever is later, shall, on or after the thirtieth (30th) calendar day following the later of the effective or execution date, become and remain members in good standing of the Union.

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What does the union do for me?

 

Our contract has benefits for everyone! We won large-scale benefits like pay raises, more stable contracts, professional development funding, and seniority as well as everyday needs like adequate space to meet with students and more robust teacher evaluation procedures. See the contract highlights or the full text of the contract for more details.

 

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Who makes all the decisions for the union?

 

We do! The union steering committee is made up of Ithaca College faculty: contingent professors who teach all across the college and know better than anyone the challenges and hardships we face. Major decisions, such as whether to strike or whether to ratify a contract, are made by the membership via democratic elections. If you're interested in being more involved in the decision process, we would love to have your voice on the committee! Join a committee meeting, or if you can't make the meeting time, let us know by email and we'll reach out to you. You can set your own boundaries and can volunteer as much or as little time as you like.

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What are dues for?

 

Dues are part of how we keep our union strong: they pay for the lawyers and organizers who advise us and represent us (for example, when someone is wrongfully terminated or faces job discrimination due to their contingent status). They also pay for materials and supplies for our education and outreach initiatives (for example, flyers for our campaign to ensure that contingent faculty were nominated for teaching awards in 2018). The dues we pay every month are going into a fund that will support us the next time we need to renegotiate our contract with the administration, a costly and time-consuming process that requires expert support to ensure that we craft a solid, legal contract and get our message out into the community. 

 

>>>The dues we pay are far, far less than the pay gains we won in our very first contract. Even taking dues into consideration, faculty are making a lot more than they would've without our current contract. You only pay dues for the months in which you are employed, on a sliding scale based on your salary. 

 

If you believe that contingent faculty across the nation need the same protections that we've won here at Ithaca College, or if you support SEIU's mission to ensure that all workers have a living wage, you can fill out the optional section on the second page of the online membership form. Your voluntary contribution would go towards SEIU initiatives outside of Ithaca College, like the Fight For a $15 Minimum Wage and campaigns to fight for laws that will benefit workers. In New York State, SEIU's campaigns have helped to create positive changes in the recent past; for example, they helped to create the minimum wage increase and the Paid Family Leave program. It would also support faculty at other colleges in the area who are trying to unionize and negotiate their first contracts.

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Do I have to be in the union?

 

Our union is democratic, and like any democracy, it is strongest when everyone is included and everyone participates. To keep our union strong, membership is a requirement for all contingent faculty teaching at Ithaca College. You must fill out your membership form, which should have arrived with your initial contract from IC. If, after filling out that membership form, you wish to object to being in the union, you are welcome to access your Beck rights and write a letter to SEIU Local 200United stating your objection. Doing so will deprive you of your rights within the union (to serve on the leadership committee, vote in elections, vote on labor actions) but you will still have to pay dues and your employment will still be governed by our Collective Bargaining Agreement.

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What is the purpose of a faculty union in an academic context?

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Simply put: self defense. Contemporary higher education in the United States is built on a model of economic exploitation in which contingent faculty (part-time and full-time professors on short-term contracts) are used as cheap and disposable labor. According to the Association of American University Professors, more than 70% of instructional positions in colleges and universities are non-tenure eligible. For a majority of faculty, being a professor today means inadequate pay, no job security, and no possibilities for advancement or promotion. While administrative salaries have soared, faculty compensation overall has decreased, and the percentage of tenure-eligible faculty is steadily shrinking. The result has been the creation of a new academic underclass: a “precariate” of demoralized and underpaid contingent professors who are forced to cobble together multiple jobs, do not have benefits, and sometimes have to rely on manual labor, food stamps, or Medicaid to get by.

 

In response to the unsustainable stresses imposed on most professors in the U.S., there has been a groundswell of unionization among contingent faculty across. Contingent professors are tired of being used as cheap labor by university administrations, and are fighting back. A recent study by the Chronicle of Higher Education provides hard evidence for the fact that unionization is the principal factor in improving the working conditions of contingent faculty. According to this study, union members won salary increases at all of the 35 institutions that were analyzed; 97% of collective bargaining agreements provided for improved job security for union members; and 94% of contracts resulted in increased access to professional development for contingent faculty. 

 

The purpose of contingent faculty unions in contemporary academia is the same as that of unions throughout history: to stand up to exploitation, to protect the dignity of each member, and to defend the value of labor. As Martin Luther King put it in a speech to the state convention of the AFL-CIO in 1965, "the labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old-age pensions, government relief for the destitute and, above all, new wage levels that meant not mere survival but a tolerable life. The captains of industry did not lead this transformation; they resisted it until they were overcome."