Category: TAUP Constituencies

Adjunct Raises

e-Bulletin 20171103

Among the gains in the new contract is a raise for eligible adjuncts making under $1425 per credit hour, retroactive to the beginning of this semester. We have just confirmed with Temple’s Human Resources department that the retroactive pay owed from the first two pay periods will be included in adjuncts’ November paychecks. This means your November paycheck will be larger than usual, and your December paycheck will reflect your new monthly rate of pay (for the fall semester; in the spring, there are 5 pay periods instead of 4).

You are eligible for a raise IF:

·        in addition to teaching this semester, you have also taught for at least one semester over the last three. (If this is your first semester teaching at Temple, you will receive a raise the next time you teach, provided it’s within the next three semesters.)

AND

·        you have been making under $1425 per credit hour. You rate will be raised to $1425.

If you are making between $1425 to $1500. You will receive a one-time $150 dollar bonus.

If you make $1300/credit, the most common rate of pay that will be affected by the raise, you can reference this chart to determine the accuracy of your gross pay in the next two pay periods.

We highly recommend that everyone check their paychecks both in November and December.

If you find a discrepancy in your gross pay from what is stated here, please contact TAUP and your department chair or program director.

Campus Equity – It’s Not Just for Adjuncts

e-Bulletin20171030

Tomorrow is National Campus Equity Week’s (CEW) Day of Action. Though historically the focus of CEW has been on the working conditions of contingent campus workers, it’s time for us all to recognize that contingency has created hardships and unfair conditions for campus workers across the board.

CEW has grown out of the movement to create more equitable conditions for adjunct and non-tenure track faculty. Its origins can be traced to activists from California community colleges who organized events in 1999, resulting in the formation of the Coalition for Contingent and Adjunct Labor (COCAL). In 2013, COCAL coordinated CEW in the US and Fair Employment Week (FEW) in Canada. It now also engages with organizations and activists in Mexico. Though we experience the wrongs we face personally, they are connected to larger trends internationally.    

TAUP will be out on campus at 13th and Polett Walk, near Founder’s Garden tomorrow engaging in discussions about equity across all job categories in offices, departments, schools and services throughout the University. Help us give out treats for Halloween, pick up a Campus Equity button or sticker, and engage with students, staff and faculty in conversations about equity across campus.  

Watch our social media (@TAUPAFT on Facebook, and @TAUP on Twitter) for posts from campus throughout the day.

An Adjunct Couple Speaks for Contract Ratification

Our names are Canan and James. We’re partners and we both teach as adjunct faculty in the Department of Sociology. As adjunct faculty at Temple University, we deserve to be recognized as workers who contribute to the university’s mission to provide excellence in teaching to Temple’s diverse and engaged student population. That’s why we’re excited to be members of TAUP and ratify our first-ever union contract with an overwhelming YES  vote.

We all know too well that adjunct labor and the particular difficulties of adjunct life often remain hidden. In many cases, full-time faculty have never met the adjunct faculty in their own departments who teach a large portion of the classes and keep departments running.  Most students don’t really know if their instructor is an adjunct, and if they do, what that means for our day-to-day life. Many don’t  know what a low percentage of the tuition they pay actually goes toward paying their adjunct instructors.

Ratifying this contract will give adjuncts an immediate pay bump from $1300/credit to $1425, and another raise next year to $1500. It provides 50% and 25% health care subsidies to adjuncts.  It also lays the groundwork for adjuncts to build meaningful job security, seniority, and a promotion structure into future contracts. This contract shines light on our conditions as precarious adjunct labor, and recognizes adjuncts not simply as miscellaneous faces in the crowd, but as significant workers who put our time and energy into educating Temple’s diverse student population.

Uniting with full-time faculty in the bargaining process provides space for us to share our mutual concerns and use our strength in numbers to win. By working under a contract, adjunct faculty can begin to work towards obtaining the rights to a basic and decent livelihood that all university workers deserve. All members of TAUP will have the opportunity to ratify this contract between September 25 – 29 in an online vote. Add your name here if you plan on helping our first contract pass with an overwhelming YES vote.

In solidarity,
Canan Tanir

James Parisot

Adjunct Instructors, Sociology