Austerity Impacts: PHIL Adjunct David Komito

Austerity Impacts

Adjunct David Komito On How PSU's Cuts Delete Institutional Expertise and Undermine Educational Goals

This is the second in a series of interviews with adjuncts at PSU who have been affected by the administration’s extreme budget cuts over the past year. The impacts of this austerity plan range from contract non-renewals to canceled courses, and affect the PSU community in ways that often contradict the university’s mandate to provide a high quality educational experience for all students. But figures and headlines don’t tell the whole story. In order to understand what is happening on the ground, PSUFA is interviewing adjunct instructors all term to learn about their experiences and paint a more detailed picture of how sweeping administrative actions affect educators and students firsthand. 

For our second interview, we sat down with David Komito (Philosophy) to discuss the recent cancellation of one of his course on Asian Philosophy. Prof. Komito, who has been teaching the subject at PSU for nearly ten years, shared his story with PSUFA in order to shed light on what is being lost in the administration’s rush to slash budgets.

PSUFA: Can you tell us about the class you were teaching that got cut? 

David Komito: For the last nine years I have been teaching PHL319U, An Introduction to Asian Philosophy, which is an overview of the major philosophical systems of India, Tibet, China and Japan. It is the only Asian Philosophy course taught in the Philosophy department. Four categories of students took the course: 1) students of Asian descent who wanted to know more about their heritage, 2) students majoring in an Asian studies degree of some sort who wanted to build their skills, 3) students with a general interest in the subject and 4) students with a Philosophy major or minor.

PSUFA: How did you find out your class was being cut?

DK: Like a number of adjuncts at PSU, I received an emailed notification from the department Chair that my two-year contract was being voided midway and the fall 2024/spring 2025 classes were being canceled. This, I was informed, was due to budget cuts. When I inquired further, I was informed that the department was committed to the course and wanted to offer it in the future, presumably by one of the remaining tenured faculty members. However, I don’t see PHL319 in this academic year’s schedule.

PSUFA: What do you see as the potential impact of losing this class on PSU? 

DK: PSU’s Philosophy faculty are very talented and I imagine one of them could develop a course to replace mine, but it would be very different in significant ways.  To the best of my knowledge, none of the faculty are actually trained in Asian philosophy, have the language skills or publications in the area, or have spent extensive time living in some part of Asia (as I have). From my point of view these limitations will make for a very different course and very different relationships with the students, particularly the students of Asian descent. In this respect, the loss of an Asian Studies expert undermines PSU’s stated goals of deeply serving minority students. 

From what I have heard, mine is not the only case of deleted expertise aligned with the university’s mission to serve minority students. I understand the need of the university to balance its budget, but injudicious cuts to the faculty will leave the student body and the institution significantly poorer for such decisions.

Are you an adjunct whose classes have been canceled? How have PSU’s budget cuts affected you? Share your story with us by emailing psufa.martha (at) gmail (dot) com

Stop the Cuts! Tips on Providing Public Comment at the Next BoT Meeting

PSU’s Board of Trustees meets Next Thursday, November 21 to decide whether to approve a budget that includes all the controversial job and program cuts they have recently announced—including layoffs for 91 NTTFs and major cuts to academic programs and student services. Do you have something to say about Cudd’s cuts? Now is your chance to tell the BoT to change course and invest our reserves in the students and workers that are the core of PSU! You can help stand up for the many adjuncts, full-time faculty, graduate employees, and students who care and will be affected by this extreme austerity program by signing up to provide public comment at the upcoming BoT meeting.

Is this your first time speaking at a board meeting? Do you need tips on how to prepare your testimony? PSUFA has got you covered! In collaboration with our colleagues at PSU-AAUP, we are excited to share this handy Board Testimony Worksheet to help you organize your thoughts and get ready to tell the board what you really think! You can use these prompts to craft your own “cheat sheet” in preparation for your testimony to the board. Remember, each registered speaker is allotted 2 minutes for their verbal testimony.

If you are an adjunct interested in presenting alongside PSUFA, please email psufa.erica@gmail.com and organizing@psufa.org to coordinate with our team ahead of the board meeting. Help us make sure adjunct voices are heard loud and clear!

Are you a student at PSU? Do you want to tell the board how these cuts will affect your educational experience? Check out our specially designed Board Testimony Worksheet for Students, so you can figure ut the best way to make your point and your voice heard!

Thanks to Victor Reyes, Executive Director of AAUP Oregon for creating and sharing these BOT testimony tools.

Don’t forget to email trustees@pdx.edu by 11:30 am on Wednesday, Nov. 20 (nest week!) to register for oral testimony. When registering, include your name, email address, affiliation, and the subject of your comments. You can also submit your written comments so that the board reads them before the meeting. Not providing public comment? Join campus unions and supporters in gathering outside ASRC at 11:15 on Thursday, Nov. 21 to observe the meeting as a group. Make sure to wear your union gear!

Report: PSU Cuts Endanger Student Success

The recent budget cuts implemented by Portland State University’s administration under the leadership of President Ann Cudd have already resulted in the elimination of programs, non-renewal notices effectively terminating dozens of adjuncts, and a wave of layoffs affecting nearly 100 non-tenure track full-time faculty. But what do these controversial cuts mean for students? A joint report released by PSU’s faculty labor unions details the impacts already affecting students and the potential future outcomes of the sweeping cuts proposed by admin.

Supporters hold signs in protest of cuts to student services at PSU, photo courtesy PSU Vanguard

The report, which was released by PSUFA, PSU-AAUP, and GEU on October 31 of this year, found that cuts would have significant negative impacts on already insufficient student services including advising and mental health counseling. These impacts would likely fall most heavily on marginalized student groups, such as students needing disability accommodation, English language learners, and and those who identify with minoritized racial and ethnic groups. The report points out that chronic understaffing is already an issue in many student-facing departments, with some students being forced to wait up to four weeks to meet with an advisor and up to nine months to receive disability accommodations support. Especially poignant is the fact that “the CARE Team, a group that supports students in crises, has only two staff,” even as student mental health needs are on the rise and in the shadow of an on-campus student suicide that took place at the start of this fall term.

Cuts to critical student services are being demanded by the administration despite consistently rising tuition and fees. Students have begun pushing back, protesting at a recent Student Fee Committee budget meeting. In addition to the detrimental effects on learning of reduced and precarious faculty, limited course offerings, and enlarged class sizes, PSU’s program of extreme across-the-board cuts fails to serve our institution’s core mission, and most importantly, fails the students who come here seeking a high-quality educational experience in a supportive environment.

Read the full report here, and let us know what you think! Have you noticed a decrease in the quality and availability of student services due to the cuts? Are you concerned about PSU’s ability to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all students? Email psufa.martha@gmail.com and share your thoughts!

Major Payroll Error Exposes Administrative Chaos at PSU

Adjuncts across the university are reporting to PSUFA that they recently received paychecks in error from PSU, followed by demands from HR to pay back the issued amounts by the end of this month to avoid incurring interest. This comes after a large number of adjuncts were issued non-renewal notices beginning in Spring 2024 (the exact number is still unclear as PSU continues to withhold critical data from PSUFA and other unions), effectively terminating them from the institution’s payroll. However, it seems the administration was unable to properly handle their own hasty mass layoffs, leaving out-of-work adjuncts to clean up their mess for them so they can save face before the state’s higher ed funding bodies.

Below is a screen grab of one of these emails (edited to protect the anonymity of the adjunct who shared it with our team):

Many of the affected were terminated in the middle of two-year contracts, in violation of our Collective Bargaining Agreement, and were included in a group grievance filed by PSUFA. The grievance has since been moved to arbitration due to admin’s continued failure to respond in accordance with the official grievance process timeline.

These developments suggest PSU can’t manage the practical administrative side of their controversial budget cuts, on top of their failure to address the many questions faculty, students, and the wider community have voiced about the impacts of these cuts on the critical educational mission of our institution. The bottom line: Hasty executive actions and the resulting administrative mess they leave end up putting additional burden on wrongfully terminated adjuncts, and are unlikely to inspire confidence in Pres. Ann Cudd’s ability to lead PSU into the future.

Did you receive a letter from HR demanding repayment of a paycheck issued to you in error? How do you think PSU is managing Pres. Cudd’s agenda of cuts? Tell us what you think! Email PSUFA.martha (at) gmail.com and share your view.

Cudd: Larger Class Sizes are Good Because It Will be Easier for Students to Skip Classes

PSU President Ann Cudd Gives a Revealing Interview on OPB’s Think Out Loud

Pres. Cudd in a recent candid interview with the PSU Vanguard

PSU President Ann Cudd sat for an interview with OPB’s Think Out Loud podcast recently, to discuss her administration’s program of extreme budget cuts across the university. In addition to repeating boilerplate explanations for the cuts, Cudd offered opinions and revealed gaps in knowledge that paint a concerning picture of her vision for PSU’s future. When asked by host Dave Miller how larger class sizes caused by cutting instructional faculty would affect students’ learning experience, Cudd insisted students would be better off in larger classes of upwards of 30 students. She explained her reasoning as follows:

“Because nobody likes to be in a class that has only about four or five other students, because if you don’t show up you really are noticed, for one thing. But the other thing is that it’s all on you and a couple of others to carry on the discussion and actually, you know, work together. So it’s a better classroom experience when there are more students than that.”

Miller expressed disbelief at the notion that a university president would promote larger class sizes as beneficial for learning, and followed up by asking if the majority of more than 90 NTTF who received layoff notices had been identified as teaching the kind of smaller or redundant class sessions PSU says they aim to trim. But Cudd was either unable or unwilling to answer. Instead, she deflected the question and instead focused on contract requirements for layoff notification. It is also notable that the interview failed to address the role of adjuncts (who teach around a third of all classes offered at PSU) in the administration and board’s budget plans, and made no mention of the wave of non-renewal notices received by many adjuncts this summer.

Listen to the full interview here.

What’s the takeaway from an interview like this? It seems clear that Pres. Cudd and the rest of PSU’s leadership are making enormously consequential decisions about the future of the institution without a well-reasoned strategy beyond panicked short term cost-cutting. This isn’t the first time Pres. Cudd has appeared to be unprepared in the face of questions from faculty and students. The PSU Vanguard shared this video of PSU-AAUP President Emily Ford confronting Cudd recently over faculty layoffs. While Cudd failed to offer substantive answers to any of Pres. Ford’s questions, her dismissive attitude spoke volumes.

Did you listen to the interview on OPB or see the Vanguard’s video on social media? What do you think about Pres. Cudd’s response? Email to share your thoughts at psufa.martha@gmail.com

Austerity Impacts: CHLA Adjunct Hector Hernandez

Austerity Impacts

CHLA Adjunct Hector Hernandez Says PSU is Falling Short on its Goal to Serve Minoritized Students

This is the first in a series of interviews with adjuncts at PSU who have been affected by the administration’s extreme budget cuts over the past year. The impacts of this austerity plan range from contract non-renewals to canceled courses, and affect the PSU community in ways that often contradict the university’s mandate to provide a high quality educational experience for all students. But figures and headlines don’t tell the whole story. In order to understand what is happening on the ground, PSUFA is interviewing adjunct instructors all term to learn about their experiences and paint a more detailed picture of how sweeping administrative actions affect educators and students firsthand. 

For our first interview, we sat down with Hector Hernandez (Chicanx & Latinx Studies/CHLA) to discuss the recent cancellation of one of his popular courses on Mesoamerican culture. Prof. Hernandez, who has been teaching in the CHLA program since 2009, shared his story with PSUFA in order to shed light on what is being lost in the administration’s rush to slash budgets.

PSUFA: Can you tell us about the class you were teaching that got cut? Who were the students that took this course?

Hector Hernandez: The class, CHLA340: Mayas, Aztecs and Chicanos, is a course addressing the interests of students about the culture of Mesoamerica and its legacy in the Chicanx/Latinx culture. Since a large portion of the Chicanx/Latinx population in Oregon has a cultural background from Mesoamerica, that cultural legacy is reflected in our Chicanx/Latinx communities here. I've been teaching this course since 2017 and I've been an adjunct professor in the Chicanx/Latinx program since 2009. I developed the curriculum of this course to respond to the interest of the Chicanx/Latinx students, and in particular to the ones with indigenous backgrounds living in the Portland Metro area, since we have communities from the Mayan, Oaxacan, and Michoacan areas in addition to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, among others. The students interested in taking this course are not only Chicanx/Latinx students but also students from a wide array of cultural backgrounds with interest in Chicanx/Latinx culture. I developed this course based on an introductory course I taught at Oregon State University in 2001 and continued teaching at PSU from 2009 to about 2016

PSUFA: What happened that resulted in your class being cut? When did you find out? What did you do?

HH: I found out that the class was canceled on August 8 due to low enrollment and "lack of interest" from students. These reasons don’t make sense, because the cancellation was imposed more than two months before the beginning of the classes, and obviously low enrollment would be logical that many weeks ahead of the beginning of classes. I began to reach out to the Dean of CLAS and the President of PSU and questioned the lack of validity of the reasons for canceling the course. After I didn't hear any response from the Dean, I presented my case to the Board of Trustees. So far I haven't seen any change or consideration of my request for reinstatement.

PSUFA: What do you see as the impact of losing this class? How does this square with PSU's stated educational mission?

HH: I think the cancellation of courses like this, contrary to the reasons argued by the administration, is more a gesture of culture canceling or erasure, since the students have shown interest year after year. In addition, this course provides valuable cultural information pertaining to the legacy of the Chicanx/Latinx culture in the USA and in particular in Oregon. The course covers the emergence of Mesoamerican civilizations through millenia along with dietary and other cultural contributions, and many students have expressed interest in the subjects and topics addressed during class. For example, students who are involved in the food industry really appreciate this course. Also, the course addresses issues of race and class that help students understand the social and cultural dynamics of the Chicanx/Latinx communities in the USA, and how these conditions hindered the advancement of the community at large. Other cultural expressions the course discusses include Cinco de Mayo Celebrations, Dia de los Muertos, and legends and myths of these cultures.

I think this kind of content is only partially addressed or not provided during students’ K-12 education experiences, and this course is a great opportunity to study these valuable aspects of the cultural legacy of the Chicanx/Latinx culture at PSU. The knowledge provided by this course is in tune with the goal to serve minoritized communities to which PSU is aspiring*, and by canceling this course PSU is falling short on its mission statement: “Let Knowledge Serve the City.”

*PSU’s “2030 Vision” Strategic Plan includes the following top level priority item: “Provide students a culturally engaged academic experience through broad-based, high-impact and responsive practices that deliver quality education and create a sense of belonging.”

Hector H. Hernandez received his MFA from the University of Oregon in 1999 in painting and holds a MIS in Art and Education, a degree in Anthropology and a BFA. He has studied art in Japan and worked as an illustrator. Mr. Hernandez has produced murals and other artworks throughout communities and educational institutions in Oregon since 1995. Permanent exhibition murals are located at the OSU Memorial Union, Portland Community College (Rock Creek Campus), Portland State University, as well as Independence High School, Canby School Districts, Parks and Recreations among others. Currently Mr. Hernandez is working on a community mural project for the "Cipriano Ferrel Education Center in Woodburn as well as he completed other mural projects in Salem Oregon. Mr. Hernandez has executed murals for clinics, health center such as the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center. Among the subjects and themes reflected in his murals are the community involvement on issues such as environment, education, multiculturalism, and social change. Mr. Hernandez has showed his works in numerous galleries across Oregon, Japan and Mexico. He also gives lectures and seminars in cross-cultural awareness and communication, health education, ethnic studies and the art and culture of Mexico.


Are you an adjunct whose classes have been canceled? How have PSU’s budget cuts affected you? Share your story with us by emailing psufa.martha (at) gmail (dot) com

PSUFA Joins with PSU-AAUP in a Rally to Stop the Cuts!

PSUFA Joins AAUP In Solidarity Against Mass Layoffs!

PSUFA joined our full-time colleagues in PSU-AAUP for a rally on Thursday to demonstrate cross-union solidarity against the wave of mass layoffs and program cuts recently imposed by the administration and board of trustees. Nearly 100 non-tenure track full-time faculty received notice of their impending layoff earlier this week, an administrative action that echos the wave of non-renewal notices many adjuncts received over the summer. Participants in Thursday's action wore union t-shirts and carried signs printed by PSUFA Chair of Political Action Erica Thomas, and faculty packed the room for AAUP's bargaining session. It was great to see such a strong show of solidarity in the face of admin's extreme actions!

Student journalists at the PSU Vanguard covered the day's events, including a moment of confrontation between PSU-AAUP President Emily Ford and PSU President Ann Cudd, as part of their excellent coverage of the budget cuts and campus reactions.

In addition, OPB's Tiffany Camhi published an article detailing the proposed cuts and union response, including comments from President Ford and a statement from PSUFA, quoted below:

The Portland State University Faculty Association, which represents adjunct faculty, said mass layoffs would translate to an increased workload for remaining staff and larger class sizes for students. “PSUFA stands in solidarity with AAUP against the PSU board and administration’s shortsighted plans to slash programs and terminate longtime faculty,” said a PSUFA spokesperson in an emailed statement. “We wholeheartedly agree with our full-time colleagues in their observations that such actions will have negative impacts on our entire educational community.”

Missed the Rally? You Can Still Support Faculty Facing Layoffs!

If you couldn't make it to Thursday's rally, you can still stand up for faculty by signing the petition telling President Cudd to stop the cuts, and by RSVPing to observe PSU-AAUP's upcoming bargaining sessions (online viewing option available).

Welcome Back for Fall Term!

Join Your Union for Fall Orientation, Adjunct Happy Hour, and Much More!

Welcome back adjuncts!

It's almost the start of fall term again, and we are looking forward to connecting with students in the classroom, seeing familiar faces on campus, and meeting new adjuncts just starting our at PSU!

At the same time, there has been a lot of confusion and frustration as we head into fall: many of us have lost classes, multi year contracts have been terminated, appointments and contracts arrived very VERY late, and many adjuncts are now feeling more precarious than ever. How have you been affected? If you haven't yet filled out our survey on how budget cuts are affecting adjuncts, please take a moment and do it now!

Claim your late notice compensation!

Adjuncts on annual and multi-year contracts: if you received your letter of appointment within 4 weeks of the beginning of classes,  you are entitled to compensation as per Article 12 section 8 of our Collective Bargaining Agreement. Departments SHOULD automatically provide this compensation. If you are owed this compensation and your department has not provided it, reach out to them and make sure to copy your grievances chair: grievances@psufa.org. Your grievances chair can also help answer questions about eligibility.

You Are Your Union!

Your union is committed to fighting for job security and stability, the upholding of our collective bargaining agreement, and a quality education for our students. Read on to learn about fun upcoming events and important opportunities to help build the power of your union.

New Executive Council Members

Your PSUFA executive council welcomes three new chairs: Chair of Operations Mychel Estevez (UNST), Chair of Communications Martha Daghlian (ART), Chair of Treasury Adam Gittler (SBA). Learn more about your executive council and find contact info on our website!

New Adjunct Orientation Sept. 20 3-5PM

Looking for a bit of extra support as you prepare for the start of classes? Attend the PSU/PSUFA orientation for new adjuncts! We will share useful information on everything from online teaching tools to labor contracts on Friday, September 20 from 3-5pm in the Office of Academic Innovation (OAI) and on Zoom (please RSVP here: https://forms.gle/8eNWADAMXhpyetnp9).

Stick around after orientation to join us for a casual happy hour gathering on Friday September 20, 5:00-6:30 at Rogue Hall (across the street from PSU's campus). AFT-OR will provide snacks, cash bar available. Come meet your colleagues and build community! This happy hour event is open to ALL adjuncts. Please RSVP: https://forms.gle/8eNWADAMXhpyetnp9

Join the bargaining research and action team

What is your dream contract? How are you going to get it? Full contract negotiations begin in 2025 and your voice is needed to shape the platform and priorities of contract negotiations and the organizing that will make us powerful at the table.

Email organizing@psufa.org and psufa.bargaining@gmail.com to find out more and sign up.

Join a committee!

Build the strength of your union by joining a committee membership, finance, communications, political action, grievances, and DEIJ. Email organizing@psufa.org for more info on specific committees and how to join.

Nonrenewals: What PSUFA is doing about it and how you can help!

Help YouR Union Take Action to Protect Adjunct Rights!

Beginning in Spring 2024, Adjuncts across the University began receiving wishy-washy-worded letters from department chairs about looming budget cuts,  the *uncertainty* of scheduling for the following academic year, and an inability to “confirm” renewal. That was followed by a slew of non-renewal-notices (aka pink slips, aka being fired). Even adjuncts in the middle of two-year contracts have had their positions terminated or courseload dramatically reduced.  At least one department, Philosophy, has eliminated all adjuncts regardless of whether they are on a term-to-term or multi-year contract. 

Our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) was negotiated to protect adjuncts by giving them advance notice of what courses they will be offered in the upcoming academic year in week 5 of Spring term. This year, PSU has violated specific provisions in our CBA in order to buy themselves extra time at the expense of part-time faculty. In breaking the multi-year contracts your union has fought for, they have, moreover, violated one of the only mechanisms for job protection you have. 

Simply, this means you and your adjunct colleagues’ rights are being violated and you have little to no job stability. It also means your students will not have access to the courses they need, taught by instructors they love, with the class sizes they deserve. 

In response to the breach of two-year contracts, your union, PSUFA, moved forward with a collective grievance. PSU has refused to acknowledge this grievance, citing numerous technicalities that ignore well-established past practices in the grievance process. They have also failed to respond to information requests about which adjuncts on 2 year contracts have been terminated. 

It is a classic union busting tactic to issue widespread layoffs as a retaliatory response to huge gains like the ones we won in our last contract negotiations in 2023. We can’t be sure of PSU’s motivations, but, we do know that 70 adjuncts were also terminated in spring of 2023. This most recent maneuver is a continuation of Admin’s problematic and pessimistic budgetary strategy: cut from the bottom in an effort to balance the budget of a mismanaged university.

Actions your union is taking in response:

  • File an ULP (Unfair Labor Practice) to pressure the university to uphold contracts and honor established past practices 

  • Pursue individual and collective grievances

  • Attempt to get adjunct classes either reinstated or get adjuncts paid out for the classes they are losing

  • Make sure that the university is following the assignment rights and appointment order guaranteed by Article 8 of your contract 

Your union is strongest when you participate! Here are a few ways you can contribute to our collective action:

  • Fill out this google form and tell us about your experience

  • Add your name to our collective grievance if you are on a 2 year contract and have received a non-renewal notice. Email grievances [at] psufa.org

  • Join your grievance committee. Email grievances [at] psufa.org and organizing [at] psufa.org

Spring Town Hall Recap

Minutes from PSUFA’s Spring Term Town Hall

If you were unable to join PSUFA’s Spring Town Hall on budget cuts and adjunct contracts, you can still read the meeting minutes here! Find out what your colleagues and fellow union members had to say about the ways PSU’s looming budget cuts are affecting their job security and working conditions.

If you want to let us know about your experience with contract renewal notices, class cancellations, or anything else related to budget cuts at PSU, please fill out our survey here.

Stay tuned for more ways you can get involved with PSUFA and speak up for the rights and labor of adjuncts like you in the face of austerity measures!

National Day of Action: 4/17

PSUFA is participating in the National Day of Action, Wednesday April 17, a nationwide mobilization calling for publicly funded higher education for all, freedom to teach and learn, job security and fair pay, equity and racial justice, and democratic governance of our institutions! Read more about The Future We Stand For, endorsed by our comrades and colleagues across the country.

There are two events on Wednesday April 17 for the National Day of Action and you can join online or in person.

Join Faculty First Responders for a presentation and discussion on Academic Freedom & Palestine from the Standpoint of Contingency. 4/17 - 12:30-1:30 FMH b134 or via Zoom.

Watch Party: National Day of Action Teach-In. 4/17 - 2:00-3:00 FMH 101 or register for Zoom link here.

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Join Faculty First Responders for a presentation and discussion on Academic Freedom & Palestine from the Standpoint of Contingency. 

As a US-funded, Israeli genocide is underway in Gaza, the imperative to speak truth to power in the classroom and on campus has never been more urgent. Yet, across university campuses and here at PSU, breaking the silence on injustice in Palestine and calling for an end to violence against Palestinians has often resulted in repression and retaliation–long before the genocidal war that began after October 7, 2023. How do we, academic workers at PSU, fulfill our commitment to social justice and antiracism in this climate? How are students and contingent academic workers without job security uniquely impacted when speaking truth to power? And what are proactive measures you can take to exercise your academic freedom without reprisal? 

Faculty First Responders joins the PSU community to present and facilitate a conversation on academic freedom, right-wing attacks on faculty and student organizing, and how we organize to protect ourselves and respond to these threats. The experience of contingent academic workers–adjunct faculty, graduate workers and students–will be centered. “Job security is necessary to the freedom to teach and learn,” as stated in the National Day of Action’s The Future We Stand For. This means that in order to educate about and advocate for justice in Palestine and beyond we must also struggle against gig work in higher education. Co-sponsored by PSUFA and PSU Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine

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Watch Party: National Day of Action Teach-In 

Faculty, students, and campus workers discuss the future we stand for and the organizing work that will get us there. Join your PSU colleagues to watch the Teach-In live streamed.

Please be sure to REGISTER for the National Teach-In taking place this Wednesday 4/17 at 5 p.m. EDT.  You can register at the Day of Action website.

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Teach-In Speakers:

Jason Wozniak is an organizer with Debt Collective. He coordinates Debt Collective's Jubilee School and works on a variety of debt abolition projects with Debt Collective's Pennsylvania branch.

Isaac Kamola is an associate professor of political science at Trinity College, Hartford, CT. He is author of Free Speech and Koch Money: Manufacturing a Campus Culture War (with Ralph Wilson, 2021) and Making the World Global: US Universities and the Production of the Global Imaginary (2019), along with dozens of journal articles and book chapters. He is currently the director of the Mellon-funded Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom at the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Erica Thomas is an adjunct professor in University Studies at Portland State University and Chair of the Political Action Committee for the PSUFA.

Rana Jaleel is Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis and Chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure.

Moderator Irene Mulvey is President of AAUP National.



PSUFA Winter Term Town Hall

Join PSUFA for Our Winter Term Town Hall!

Have you ever wondered how taking leave works, or what you're entitled to as an adjunct? Well there's good news! Your adjunct faculty union is hosting a hybrid Town Hall on Friday, February 2, from 4:00-5:30p.m. with a special topic: Leaves!

Every term adjuncts reach out to us with questions about how to access sick leave and the other forms of leave we are entitled to. In your union's upcoming Town Hall, we will take a deep dive into the topic, answer your questions and learn more about new benefits through the Paid Leave Oregon program. Please RSVP and submit your questions about leave in this form and we will prepare answers to share at the Town Hall.

Join us on Friday, February 2 from 4:00-5:30p.m. for this conversation, union updates, and more, in person in the union office (B134, Fariborz Maseeh Hall) or over Zoom. RSVP here for more information and Zoom link.

Your PSU Unions Defend the Right to Academic Freedom

Cross-Union Solidarity Statement in support of free Academic & Political Speech on campus

artwork courtesy Parusha Naidoo/Just Seeds

PSU’s labor unions PSUFA​, GEU​,and SEIU​ have co-authored a joint statement reinforcing our shared commitment to freedom of political and academic speech on campus in our monthly Together4PSU meeting.

​The language, principles and demands in this shared statement are modeled on the defense of academic freedom recently articulated by our colleagues at AAUP national​. Your PSU campus unions have a crucial role to play in asserting and defending your rights to express opposition to all forms of violence and bigotry and to articulate solidarity with all people subject to violence and discrimination, without fear of reprisal.

Cross-Campus Union Solidarity Statement

Recently, students and faculty at Portland State University have reported attempts by other faculty members and students to censor views on the current conflict in the Middle East that advocate for justice in Palestine, and/or frame the conflict as part of an ongoing colonial occupation. These instances of harassment, slander, intimidation and silencing at Portland State University, though from a minority, are of great concern to our campus unions due to the threats they present to job security and their chilling of speech and a range of views on these subjects. 

The SEIU, GEU and PSUFA unions at Portland State University reaffirm the rights of all students, faculty and staff to express their viewpoints free of harassment, slander, intimidation, and threats to their livelihoods and safety. We are also committed to the equal rights of Palestinians and Israelis to live in dignity and safety, and oppose any discrimination based on identity or political views, including anti-Arab or anti-Muslim racism, and antisemitism. 

To protect faculty, staff, and students from violence, intimidation, and censorship as they express their views on campus and for the broader public, the campus unions of PSU call on university administrations to:

  • Commit to fully protecting the academic freedom of their faculties to teach, conduct research, and speak out about important issues both on and off campus, as called for in Academic Freedom in Times of War.

  • Protect the freedom of students to express their positions on such issues on and off campus. Students should be free to organize and join associations to promote their common interests, and students and student organizations should be free to examine and discuss all questions of interest to them and to express opinions publicly and privately, in the words of the AAUP’s Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students.

  • Safeguard the independence of colleges and universities by refusing to comply with demands from politicians, trustees, donors, faculty members, students and their families, alumni, or other parties that would interfere with academic freedom.

We remind our university’s leadership that their duty is to protect the academic freedom, free speech, and associational rights of faculty, staff, and students to speak on all topics of public or political interest without fear of intimidation, retaliation, or punishment.

Signed,
GEU Executive Council
PSUFA Executive Council
SEIU Executive Council



References:

https://www.chronicle.com/article/scholars-who-study-the-middle-east-are-afraid-to-speak-out

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/labor-teachers-union-ceasefire-gaza-israel/

https://www.aaup.org/news/polarizing-times-demand-robust-academic-freedom

https://www.aaup.org/report/legislative-threats-academic-freedom-redefinitions-antisemitism-and-racism

https://mesana.org/advocacy/letters-from-the-board/2023/10/16/mesa-board-statement-on-palestine-and-israel

​

New Contract Changes Ratified!

PSUFA Members,

The votes have been counted and you have made your collective voice heard!

With record voting turnout,
PSUFA Members have voted in support of ratification by more than 99%!

Ratification of new contract language provides all Adjuncts at PSU a 10% COLA that goes into effect this Fall term, among many other increases and additions to our existing collective bargaining agreement (CBA). You can download and review the new contract language that will be added to our CBA here: Ratified 2023–2025 PSUFA CBA Language [PDF].

These changes to our contract are a HUGE win for Adjuncts at PSU and it wouldn’t have been possible without YOUR participation, engagement, collective action, and solidarity throughout the bargaining process!

As we look ahead to 2025, when our contract negotiations begin anew, we must keep this incredible and inspiring momentum going. Keep an eye on your email for opportunities to get involved, and reach out to the PSUFA Executive Council if you want to help continue to strengthen our union over the next year!

In Solidarity,

PSUFA Bargaining Team
Ariana, Lyndsie, Vasiliki, Brittney, Alison, Rob, and David

Tentative Agreement Details

PSUFA Members,

Administration thought that YOU would back down. They expected you to believe their austerity narrative and cower in fear. They expected you to accept the bare minimum. BUT YOU SAID NO! Because of your resounding demands for a FAIR CONTRACT NOW, your attendance at bargaining sessions, your willingness to participate in collective action, and persistent pressure via articles in local news media and the Solidarity Letter signed by over 19 elected local legislators…

Your PSUFA Bargaining Team is happy to announce that a Tentative Agreement (TA) with the University has been reached in this economic reopener.

But we’re not done yet! The language of the TA is still being finalized, and once this is completed PSUFA Membership will be asked to VOTE to RATIFY the proposed contract. In the coming days we will have more information for our members about how and when to cast your vote on the TA. Be sure to keep in mind:

YOU MUST BE A DUES-PAYING MEMBER TO VOTE ON RATIFICATION OF THIS TA.

In order to become a member—if you are not already—sign up now at https://psufa.org/membership. Unsure about your current membership status? Email PSUFA Membership Chair, Vasiliki Touhouliotis.

The details of the TA as outlined below demonstrate significant movement toward all the higher-level demands outlined at the beginning of the bargaining process. We pushed Administration to commit to equal pay for equal work and to keep up with the cost of living over a period of economic instability and inflation. We also made it clear that there need to be raises that reflect length of service to the University and that PSU needs to put an end to the unpaid work that routinely falls on Adjuncts to perform. Access to benefits Adjuncts can use, in the form of health insurance and retirement benefits, and an increase to onboarding and inclusion of Adjuncts in the affairs of their department were also on the table. Although there is always more room for improvement, this TA represents tangible gains in each of these areas.

Had PSUFA Membership backed down on any of these demands, the University would have “given” us the paltry $3.3 million total they offered initially (which would have been an effective pay cut as shown in the comparison table linked below), but because of the strength of our bargaining unit (again, that’s YOU!) this TA package is calculated at $4.6 million—an increase of almost 40% over their initial offer.

 
 

The TA contains a number of gains over what we are provided in our current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), and adds new language to provide access to benefits we did not have before. These changes include:

Increases to Instructional Appointment Per Credit Minimum Salary Rates

  • Effective Fall Term 2023: $1,271

    • Increase of $35 & 10% COLA

  • Effective Fall Term 2024: $1,339–$1,362

    • Increase of $45 & 1.75%–3.5% COLA, variable based on CPI-U West

Increases to Research Appointments Minimum Salary Rates

  • Research Assistant

    • Effective Fall Term 2023: $30.38 per hour

      • Inclusive of 10% COLA

    • Effective Fall Term 2024: $32.23–$32.79 per hour

      • Inclusive of 1.75%–3.5% COLA, variable based on CPI-U West

  • Research Associate

    • Effective Fall Term 2023: $32.53 per hour

      • Inclusive of 10% COLA

    • Effective Fall Term 2024: $34.42–$35.01 per hour

      • Inclusive of 1.75%–3.5% COLA, variable based on CPI-U West

NEW: Length of Service Payment

  • One-time payment of $850 to Adjuncts who have worked in the PSUFA bargaining unit for a minimum of 6 years

    • A year of work is defined as an Adjunct working in an Adjunct instructional or research role in any term in an academic year (Fall, Winter, Spring). Years of work will be calculated to include the academic year in which the payment is made and any years of work in the PSUFA bargaining unit prior to that academic year, including non-consecutive years of work.

Increase to Compensation for Committee Service, Advising, Mentoring Activities, and Special Projects and Certain Curricular Development Work

  • Effective Fall Term 2023: $29.16 per hour

    • Inclusive of 10% COLA

  • Effective Fall Term 2023: $30.99–$31.53 per hour

    • Inclusive of 1.75%–3.5% COLA, variable based on CPI-U West

  • NEW: Addition of compensation for Course Development

    • Up to $500 for either a new course that the department has not previously offered or an existing course that requires major curricular revisions

      • “Curricular revisions” defined as requiring change to 50% or more of the course content as determined by the Department Chair

    • Paid at the committee service rates above

Increase to Compensation for Independent Study Supervision

  • 1 credit hour: $153

  • 2 credit hours: $230

  • 3 credit hours: $306

  • 4 credit hours: $383

Increase in Compensation for Contract Negotiations

  • The University will compensate up to three (3) bargaining unit members four (4) credits per term for the purpose of preparing for and participating in contract negotiations for the duration of the contract negotiations not to exceed a maximum of four (4) terms.

Increase to Release Time for Other Union Duties

  • Provides an additional one hundred (100) hours, for a total of seven hundred (700) hours

NEW: Retirement Benefits Paid by the University

  • For eligible Adjuncts selecting PERS (Public Employees Retirement System):

    • PSU shall pay the six-percent (6%) employee contribution to any eligible Adjunct faculty employee’s Individual Account Program (IAP)

  • For eligible Adjuncts selecting ORP (Optional Retirement Plan) in Tiers 1, 2, or 3:

    • PSU shall pay the employee contribution satisfying the 414(h) contribution option

Sick Leave

  • No cap on hours accrued

  • Hours accrued at the same rate as full-time faculty

    • 1 hour sick leave for 21.66 hours of work

Increase to the Faculty Education Fund (FEF)

  • PSU contributes additional $20,000 per year (up to $65,000)

  • PSU language change on the per credit amount rate to $31 per credit hour

Increase to the Technology Fund

  • PSU contributes $20,000 per year

  • Individual eligibility increased to $1,500 per person

Increase to the Adjunct Faculty Assistance Fund (AFAF)

  • PSU contributes additional $25,000 per year (up to $325,000)

  • Additional money will be available for any purpose as articulated in that article, including financial hardship and/or caregiving expenses

NEW: Adjunct Inclusion Fund

  • PSU provides $7,500 per year to provide up to ten (10) departments with high academic density money to pay adjuncts to participate in department meetings and/or other departmental work.

For all the finer details on the Tentative Agreement and how this compares with what had previously been offered by the University, check out our PSU Proposals & TA Comparison PDF.

 
 

Again, the PSUFA Bargaining Team wants to extend a round of applause to YOU! Bravo to all who attended bargaining sessions and showed up in solidarity throughout the process. We are also immensely grateful for our supportive community members outside the bargaining unit who have actively and vocally supported our cause, including many State and Local elected officials. Thank you as well to the media outlets who covered our struggle.

In Solidarity,

PSUFA Bargaining Team
Ariana, Lyndsie, Vasiliki, Brittney, Alison, Rob, and David

Bargaining Recap (September 01)

“What can you live with?”

This is the question from PSU Administration that reverberated throughout a rather tense return to the bargaining table for PSUFA and the University this past Friday, September 1st.

After over four weeks of waiting since receiving our counter proposals on July 28th, Administration has come back to us with a proposal package that looks remarkably similar to—and in many ways worse than—the package they presented to us on July 19th. Instead of the $3.3 million of their July 19th package, they touted the September 1st $3.5 million package as “unprecedented”, while curiously also referring explicitly to this proposal as nothing more than a “reallocation” of the money they had been previously authorized to offer. You might recall from our July 28th Bargaining Recap that Administration had already told us they couldn’t manage more than $3.3 million with an additional then-undefined $0.2 million, and we told them very clearly, in the very same meeting, that this would not be enough to bring us to where we need to be to reach equity with our full-time counterparts. And yet, they came back with it anyway…

At the beginning of their runthrough of changes, Administration proudly announced they had increased the COLA to the per credit minimum from 6.5% to 10% as we had asked, but as it turned out this was at the cost of everything else we had asked for. In order to make the 10% possible without also increasing their overall offer, the remaining proposals were either left unchanged from their original July 19th proposal or rescinded (with the exception of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it increase to their previous proposal for researcher rates). As you can see in the full comparison document (linked below), some noteworthy changes from their previous package include:

  • Rescinded verbal agreement to pick up retirement at 6%
  • No length of service increase for adjuncts who have been employed for 12 years or more (collapsed into those who have worked 7 years or more)
  • Rescinded offer of additional $25,000 to Adjunct Faculty Assistance Fund for caregivers
  • Rescinded $15,000/year increase to Faculty Education Fund
 

For all the details on what the University offered in this session, you can check out our updated Comprehensive Proposal Comparison.

 

In the end, the additional $25 increase to the per credit minimum and 10% COLA comes at the cost of everything else, and still only puts us at a 1.7% increase over what PSU adjuncts were making in Fall 2019, adjusted for inflation. This again fails to bring us anywhere near equity with what full-time faculty at PSU get for the same work. This package is a non-starter.

 
 

Toward the end of the meeting, their team explicitly referred to the $3.5 million as their “ceiling”, and chided us for noting that all they had done since their previous proposal was rearrange the deck chairs. But talking about a “ceiling” at all in what is meant to be a negotiation shows a clear lack of willingness to engage meaningfully in the process and careless indifference to the needs and demands of our bargaining unit. They speciously insist that we are stalling the bargaining process by not negotiating against ourselves in these sessions. As you can see in the Proposal Comparison table linked above, PSUFA has already tentatively accepted a number of PSU’s proposals. Administration, however, has only tentatively accepted a single one of our proposals, and that was seven weeks ago. PSUFA has been and continues to be committed to engaging in a good faith negotiation, and we have demonstrated this in the adjustments we have made to our proposals and by actively trying to schedule bargaining sessions with the University over the summer. We are still waiting to see this commitment from the University, even as they try to claim in these meetings that we are the ones not moving and use this as justification to call for mediation as soon as the option presents itself legally.

What is clear from this most recent session, and Administration’s striking lack of willingness to engage with us in full-throated negotiation, is that the University is entirely focused on its supposed budget, and not the well-being and needs of the contingent faculty whose labor it cannot function without. When asked directly whether their team had at any point in the past four weeks requested more money to put together a better offer, they rebuffed us, saying that we were implying they hadn’t tried, but they never said they did, either. When presented with member responses to their proposal after our caucus—calling it “a bandage for a gaping wound” and “unconscionable”—they sat in palpable silence, not one member of their team uttering a single word until we moved on. Instead, throughout the session they suggested everything in their proposals is something they are “giving” us, insinuating that we should be grateful. We don't need to be grateful to bosses who don't pay us fairly, who don't offer meaningful compensation for length of service, who don't acknowledge the additional labor of its caregivers, and who won't contribute to retirement!

 
 

PSUFA and adjunct members are done with accepting bread crumbs from the University. They ask us, “What can you live with?”; We answer with one word: equity. That is what we continue to fight for. We have some questions of our own for Administration: What is it going to take for PSU to stop exploiting the precarity of adjunct labor? Does the University truly believe it is ethical to deny retirement and healthcare to PSU workers that are kept in contingent status year after year? Will Administration at this moment demonstrate care for its students, their education, and the educators that provide the essential work that holds up this institution; or, will they again choose profit over community? We ask: What does PSU stand for?

Instead of addressing the needs of their employees, Administration referred to these negotiations as “the start, not the end.” But, the start of what? Adjuncts at PSU have been enduring years of economic uncertainty amidst increasingly unstable employment. Adjuncts who are in unstable situations financially are not on solid enough ground to help resolve the student retention problem the University is facing. How long will we have to wait to be made whole and receive the equal pay for equal work we deserve? “What can you live with,” they ask? We’ve heard loud and clear from our membership that we can’t live with what Administration is offering. The University is kicking the can down the road when we need transformative and equitable change to this increasingly exploitative system, and we need a FAIR CONTRACT NOW.

By insisting on moving laterally—with a fixed budgetary “ceiling”—PSU is not committed to moving forward and not coming to the bargaining table in good faith. We are looking forward to continuing negotiations in mediation later this month as we believe PSU will come to recognize that in order to participate in an equitable economic reopener they will need to do better than offering what is essentially the same proposal again and hoping we will give up. PSUFA has the support of state senators, state representatives, elected regional government officials, and members of the wider Portland community, who have all signed on in solidarity with our demands (read the full Solidarity Letter and list of signatories here). We are invested in the process and will not give up; PSU needs to be invested as well.

In Solidarity,

PSUFA Bargaining Team
Ariana, Lyndsie, Vasiliki, Brittney, Alison, Rob, and David

Future Bargaining Sessions

Our next bargaining session (and our first in the mediation process) is tentatively scheduled for Monday, September 18th, from 9:00AM to 5:00PM. More details will be sent out via email in the coming days. You can also keep an eye on the event page on our Calendar at PSUFA.org for future bargaining dates and how to get actively involved while we are in mediation.

Bargaining Town Halls

Bargaining is a fraught process, and it can often seem confusing or challenging to follow. Maybe you haven’t been able to attend any bargaining sessions, or you have but you’re not sure about some of the details. Don’t worry; you’re not alone!

In order to make sure our membership understand what has happened so far in the process, what is currently happening, and what to expect down the line, PSUFA is hosting two All-Member Bargaining Status Town Halls in September.

 

Come talk with other PSUFA members about what you CAN live with and what equal pay for equal work means to you!

 

These Town Halls will be held on Thursday, September 21st, & Tuesday, September 26th, both from 5:00PM to 6:00PM. You can attend just one or both Town Halls, and both sessions will be held in-person in FMH B134 (basement level) in the PSUFA office with the option of attending over Zoom as well. Please RSVP to attend at the following link: https://forms.gle/xBQrYpi754vqRwH37

Community Solidarity with PSU Adjunct Faculty

For over 75 years, Portland State University (PSU) has served its students, the city of Portland and the State of Oregon, by providing high quality education to all who enroll, including high numbers of non-traditional and minoritized students. In 2022, 80% of PSU’s students were Oregonians, 39.6% identified as BIPOC, and 47.4% were first-generation college attendees. To meet its stated mission of “creat(ing) an equitable and sustainable future through academic excellence, urban engagement, and expanding opportunity for all,” it is urgent that the PSU administration and Board of Trustees reverse the disinvestment in its adjunct faculty and provide livable wages and fair compensation for these essential educators.

Adjunct instructors account for approximately 47% of the instructional staff at PSU and teach almost 40% of student credit hours. Every student who attends PSU is taught by an adjunct at some point in their education. But adjunct faculty also do much more than teach classes. They mentor students, write letters of recommendation, develop courses, conduct research, write grants, and serve as important role models. Adjuncts are essential to shaping student experience, education, retention, and success. They are the public servants who serve the diverse populations that PSU was founded to educate and engage.

Adjunct working conditions are student learning conditions and PSU students—particularly our BIPOC and first-generation students—deserve faculty who are compensated with livable wages, benefits, and dignified working conditions. The over 1,000 adjunct faculty at PSU deserve pay which reaches parity with their full-time counterparts and keeps up with cost of living. Currently, PSU does not provide raises to adjuncts based on their length of service. This means that adjuncts working at the university for 10 and even 20 years still make the minimum rate. Adjuncts deserve raises which recognize their career excellence, their essential labor, and their service to students and the University.

For Portland State University to fulfill its mission to our city and state, increase its enrollment, retain—and truly serve—its diverse student body, it must start compensating adjuncts fairly.

We, the undersigned, request PSU to increase the budget and compensation for adjunct faculty:

Oregon State Senators

Wlnsvey Campos — State Senator, District 18

Kathleen Taylor — State Senator, District 21

Lew Frederick — State Senator, District 22

Michael Dembrow — State Senator, District 23

Chris S Gorsek — State Senator, District 25 / Adjunct Assistant Professor, Portland State University

Oregon State Representatives

Ben Bowman — State Representative, District 25

Dacia Grayber — State Representative, District 28

Maxine Dexter — State Representative, District 33

Farrah Chaichi — State Representative, District 35

Rob Nosse — State Representative, District 42

Travis Nelson — State Representative, District 44

Khanh Pham — State Representative, District 46

Zach Hudson — State Representative, District 49

Ricki Ruiz — State Representative, District 50

Community Members

Ashton Simpson — Metro Councilor, District 1 / Community Leader

Christine Lewis — Metro Councilor, District 2

Mary Nolan — Metro Councilor, District 5

Duncan Hwang — Metro Councilor, District 6

Jessica Vega Pederson — Multnomah County Chair

Susheela Jayapal — Multnomah County Commissioner, District 2

Carmen Rubio — Portland City Commissioner

PSU-AAUP Executive Council

Dr. José Padín — Former President, PSU-AAUP / Associate Professor, Portland State University

Sarah Kowaleski — Portland Jobs with Justice Coalition Organizer

Brittney Connelly — Head of the CORE Art Dept. at PSU

Daniel A. Brown — Convenor of PDX Faith Labor Committee

Cassia Gammill — CCAHE Professor

David Stylianou — AFT National Representative

Laura Hanks — Community Member

Nicole Jepeal — Graduate Student, Portland State University

Nikki Mandell — Professor Emerita, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

Judith Beck — Community Member

Eloise Bates — Community Member

Mark Leymon — Associate Professor, Portland State University

Alejandro Segura — President, SEIU Local 89

David Kinsella — Professor, Portland State University

Marie Wakefield — Community Member

Emily Gothard — Alumni, Portland State University

Joel Rosenblit — CWA Member

Tascha Babitch — Community Member

Stacey Vieyra-Braendle — AFT Member / Academic Fieldwork Coordinator & Former Adjunct Faculty

Ramin Farahmandpur — Vice President for Legislative & Political Action, PSU-AAUP / Professor, Portland State University

Aleksandar Jokic — Councilor, PSU-AAUP / Professor, Portland State University

Kristine Shmakov — PCCFFAP Member (AFT Local 2277) / Instructor & Department Head, Portland Community College

Grace Silvia — Community Member

Stephanie Yorba — Instructor, Portland Community College

Rachel Aponte — Instructor, Portland Community College

Julie Perini — PSU-AAUP Member / Associate Professor, Portland State University

Sylvia Hart-Landsberg — Community Member

Evan Selby — Reynolds Education Association Member / Teacher/Building Representative

Robyn Gottlieb — BerniePDX / Community Member

John Harris Knight — American Federation of Government Employees Member

Ezra Veenstra — Community Member

John Detweiler — Educator / Community Member

Myka Dubay — ILWU Local 5 Executive Board Member

Jamie Partridge — NALC Local 82 Member

Brian Denning — Portland DSA Steering Committee External Organizing Co-chair

John Herbert — Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC) Member

Bargaining Update (August 29)

Forgive us for disrupting your summer break, but the bargaining team has some important updates. Below is some information about a couple pressing scheduled events, followed by our usual bargaining blog update.

Firstly, YOU ARE PSUFA and we are hosting urgent All-Member Bargaining Status Update Town Halls to update members on the current state of our contract negotiations, answer your questions, and invite you to JOIN THE FIGHT. The Town Halls will be held on two (2) dates to accommodate people’s busy schedules:

  • September 21st (Thu), 5:00PM to 6:00PM

  • September 26th (Tue), 5:00PM to 6:00PM

Join us in-person in the PSUFA office in FMH B134 (basement level) or on Zoom: RSVP HERE. We will send you a calendar invite and reminder, and the Zoom link is noted on the RSVP form. You are welcome to attend both dates.

Second, we have one final bargaining session this week before entering into formal mediation (more details on this development below).

  • September 1st (Fri), 1:00PM to 5:00PM (on Zoom only; RSVP HERE)

Since you last heard from us, there has been little movement at the bargaining table, but a lot of development behind the scenes. To refresh your memory on where we last left off, be sure to read our July 28th Bargaining Recap. In the intervening time our fight has also captured the attention of local media! Read articles in the PSU Vanguard from August 3rd and August 10th, in Street Roots from August 23rd, and look out for upcoming stories in the Portland Mercury and other outlets.

While we had initially been optimistic that our Bargaining Team and PSU Administration would meet to continue the process during August, there have been no bargaining sessions since July 28th. Scheduling has proven incredibly difficult in the summer. The University is not happy that our schedules (which include long-ago-scheduled time off for our team members to spend with their families after five months of bargaining) don’t work for their team and within their preconception of the flow of this economic reopener.

Administration’s impatience hit an all-time high this week when we were notified without consultation that they had initiated formal mediation with the Employment Relations Board. This process can be initiated by either side after 150-days of bargaining without a contract agreement, but this still came as a surprise to the Bargaining Team as PSU Administration seemed to agree with us that mediation was not yet necessary. Many unions—including others at PSU—bargain long past the 150-day marker, especially in cases such as ours where just establishing ground rules took up over two months of negotiations (let us remind you that we didn’t start exchanging proposals until June). Why is PSU calling for mediation as soon as they are legally allowed to, and without giving PSUFA any indication this was the direction they were moving? We hope that it is motivated by a commitment to continue bargaining in good faith and in a democratic spirit and not an attempt at unilateral implementation of their vision of “fairness” and “equity” upon our unit.

Come to the TOWN HALL to learn what the mediation process entails, but the TL;DR reaction from your team at the bargaining table is this: We are hopeful mediation will help PSU come up with an allocation increase and counterproposal rather than literally nothing at all or moving a little from column A to column B. We understand the concept of “negotiation” as thus: each side makes concessions from their initial positions to reach a consensus that is agreeable to both parties. PSUFA’s Bargaining Team has taken those steps and shown a willingness to negotiate. The University has presented a continued refusal to move towards us, with the justification that: PSUFA’s asks are so radical that they can’t even think about going to President Cudd or the Board of Trustees for more funding. Here is a link to the chart showing proposals thus far; you can see there is nothing radical about our requests for equal pay for equal work. Transformative, deserved, and justified? Yes. Radical? Depends on who you ask.

The fear tactics from Administration have grown so pathetic that they have resorted to threats regarding our Fall term paychecks and the inability of HR to implement retroactive pay. These have come under the guise of feigned concern over how PSUFA membership might be upset at their Bargaining Team for failing to accept the pittance they offered during the July 19th session—the only proposal they have offered in five long months of bargaining before seeking mediation. This makes PSUFA wonder: How can it be that every other institution within the State of Oregon higher education system can manage retroactive payment, but PSU can’t? As one of our team members said quite concisely in a meeting with Administration: “Our members' paychecks are at the forefront of our minds in this process.” Your paychecks are the reason we are fighting so hard, regardless of “the situation at HR”.

WE WILL NOT QUIT NEGOTIATIONS UNTIL A FAIR CONTRACT HAS BEEN AGREED TO!

We need your support and action!

Attend the next bargaining session on Zoom
September 1st (Fri), 1:00PM to 5:00PM

Attend an All-Member Town Hall in-person on campus or Zoom
September 21st (Thu), 5:00PM to 6:00PM & September 26th (Tue), 5:00PM to 6:00PM

In Solidarity,

Your PSUFA Bargaining Team,
Ariana, Lyndsie, Vasiliki, Brittney, Alison, Rob, and David

Bargaining Recap (July 28)

The Pressure Is On!

On Friday, July 28th, more than 50 PSU adjuncts, students, staff, full-time faculty, and community members descended upon our bargaining session in the Karl Miller Center with signs demanding a FAIR CONTRACT NOW!

This demonstration followed the unprecedented number of adjuncts who took the time to respond to PSUFA’s poll gauging our union membership’s willingness to take collective action in order to achieve a better contract. The results of the poll unambiguously demonstrated a desire to unite in some form of collective action if necessary for the contract we deserve.

 
 

THANK YOU to everyone who attended our demonstration, and thank you especially to our community allies at Portland Jobs with Justice and Portland DSA! PSU Administration was visibly rattled by the unified call for a fair contract and the PSUFA Bargaining Team was bolstered by your support. The University leadership is counting on their adjuncts being quiescent and disorganized, but we are not going along with their plans for us!

Let’s continue putting the pressure on at our next bargaining session, tentatively scheduled for August 18th. Keep an eye on the PSUFA Calendar and your email for time and location. Please stay tuned for more information about future actions and continue to follow updates on our blog. The fight is not over and we adjuncts will keep demanding a fair contract until we get one—sending the message to Administration loud and clear that we are worth more and that our students deserve more!

The PSUFA Bargaining Team’s parting message to Administration on Friday was simple: We are willing to continue negotiating, but the total allocation must be significantly larger—our bargaining unit will not accept the current allocation.

Here’s where we stand at the bargaining table on our proposed increase to the minimum per credit rate and a cost of living adjustment (COLA):

For a more detailed outline of all the proposals put forth by PSUFA and how PSU has responded to them, click here to download a comprehensive comparison PDF.

The University’s central message to adjuncts at the table is and has been: We are in a $20 million hole and we only have an increase of $3.3 million (with an additional as yet undefined $0.2 million allotment) to give you. The budget crisis the University has found itself in should not mean perpetuating our part-time poverty. Adjuncts did not create this crisis, and its solution should not be laid at the feet of PSU’s already underpaid faculty. An increase of $3.3 million (plus $0.2 million) is simply not enough for the more than 1,000 adjuncts who make this university function by teaching nearly 40% of student credit hours.

Your union’s current proposal costs an additional $5.5 million in the first year and an additional $2.5 million in the second year (for a total of $8 million). This amount would increase our share of the total university budget from 3.1% to merely 4.3%—a modest percentage when compared to—again—the nearly 40% of instructional hours at PSU that would not be possible without our labor.

PSUFA will continue to bargain to achieve a fair contract. The Bargaining Team has made significant moves toward the Administration's position in an effort to find a compromise that is fair and just. By claiming a fixed pool of money to work with, and institing that we can only negotiate how to move the money around, the University is stalling the process.

The Bargaining Team has and will continue to demand that the Administration across the table go to the Board of Trustees and the President to find more in the budget to allocate for our bargaining unit. Every budgetary decision is a choice that reflects the values of PSU and the University is actively and shamefully choosing to not invest sufficiently in the dignity and survival of its adjunct faculty by not providing us a larger amount to negotiate with.

Demonstration for a FAIR CONTRACT NOW

On Friday, July 28th, PSU adjuncts, students, staff, full-time faculty, and community members demonstrated their support for a FAIR CONTRACT NOW for PSU adjuncts.

See pictures of this powerful demonstration of collective action below, and keep an eye on the PSUFA Blog for information on how to get involved in the future.