PSUFA gathered with PSU for an evening bargaining session with continued hopes of making progress on knotted issues surrounding a future faculty orientation and onboarding, adjunct inclusion in governance, and future bargaining sessions.
PSUFA team members presented a newly crafted Article 4: Orientation and Onboarding for potential inclusion in our Collective Bargaining Agreement, and a Letter of Agreement that creates the task force with this charge and encourages clear, deliverable results for our members. After our presentation and full review by both PSUFA and PSU we received consensus on a tentative agreement! The results include commitments to an annual collaborative orientation event, and a plan to research, create, and distribute onboarding materials that inform our members of the valuable resources, rights, and benefits available as PSU union-represented employees.
Following this important development, we entered into discussion on potential adjunct inclusion on forthcoming Faculty Senate committees. PSUFA advocated strongly for inclusion in this forum; the University administration after some discussion stated that they “heard our interests,” and are willing to work toward resolution on this step forward.
PSU Administration then immediately asked how our interest in including adjunct faculty in departmental meetings and governance was interrelated to Faculty Senate inclusion. They stated they were now hesitant to continue discussing the former without also addressing the latter. This started a rather frustrating discussion about whether adjunct faculty should be welcome to voluntarily attend department meetings at all. PSU staked out an intractable position asserting it would not be possible to invite adjuncts without compensation, whereas we pointed to language in several existing departmental bylaws and in our current CBA which clearly state how adjuncts are welcome to attend department meetings, though not required. We noted it is only in the case where faculty are specifically requested or required to attend meetings they must be paid. In no uncertain terms are we advocating for less or lack of compensation under any conditions, but we hope that the benefits of inclusion outweigh PSU’s resistance to meaningful departmental inclusion and resistance to further inclusion always being associated with compensation. This is a tricky position for us to argue, but we have limited maneuvering room when PSU insists on both positions simultaneously. Our ultimate goal is a seat at the table at the site of our labor.
We then touched on the potential rights and role of an adjunct representative at department meetings, but were unable to make progress on contractual language, despite many aligned interests on this point.
After a caucus, we returned to the digital bargaining table to set our agenda for our next bargaining session on Sunday, November 8 dedicated to economic topics! Given our experience with our prior agreed economic agenda being entirely derailed (twice) from meaningful progress by PSU’s stated confusion and endless processual questions, we proposed a very clear agenda coupled with a request for an explicit mutual understanding and commitment to that agenda. We are looking forward to diving into a vital conversation about pay, economic justice, and equity during this next session. Sign up to be an observer here!
Please join us!