Bargaining started off promisingly, with PSU and PSUFA reaching a tentative agreement on Article 3, Information on New Members. Both sides discussed creating a list of current adjunct office spaces and info for new hires, and PSU and PSUFA came to a tentative agreement on this article. Next, PSUFA agreed to minor Preamble changes for our potential Collective Bargaining Agreement. We hope this Preamble provides a documented, shared beginning to PSUFA and PSU’s commitment to addressing and ending professional inequities in higher education. This effort and tentative agreement provided some needed levity to a potentially laborious day of negotiating. 

Our negotiations and bargaining then moved to Article 7, which covers Member Rights. Progress was made, and PSUFA will continue to push for adjunct voice and inclusion within departments. It is far past time to put commitment to action and budgetary consideration. PSU has recognized, as far back as 2015, that this is a top priority of PSUFA. Since adjuncts teach the most credit hours of any teaching unit at PSU, it makes obvious and transparent sense for us to have a say in departmental decisions that greatly impact our careers, our labor, and our research and students—and doing so will benefit both departments and students and PSU. 

Bargaining moved on to Article  8: Assignment Rights and Reappointment. We made clear that, absent major pay raises, this Article was essential to PSUFA members. This Article will eventually outline who will be, and how we will be, assigned classes and therefore have our assignment rights contractually fulfilled. We were and are not willing to rush bargaining on this essential piece. We cannot say this was met with an enthusiastic response, but it did emphasize our commitment to this article and that more time, even bargaining through January, will be necessary. We established, consequently, a subgroup process to continue this work, with more bargaining in January with full quorum. 

We then turned to bargaining about economics; it became clear that PSU will need to concede more economically if we are to come to even a tentative agreement. PSU countered PSUFA’s proposal of a $10/credit raise after two years of service with a one-time bonus for adjuncts based on length of service. PSU did extend this “length of service” to even our new members who have not yet reached one year of part-time employment. We are not yet entirely sold on this offer, and will continue to work on our counter to this offer throughout the end of the year. 

Next we discussed PSUFA’s three benefit funds (Emergency Assistance, Professional Development, Education). PSU countered PSUFA’s recommendation of increased funds with an offer of no increase in funding. And in place of offering adjuncts dedicated financial support to attend department-level meetings, PSU proposed $100 gift cards for participation, given to departments to distribute in some way. In other words, another stop-gap measure instead of the structural changes in revenue that adjuncts deserve and need. PSUFA is committed to our economic package and we will continue to push hard for our entirely reasonable package and proposal in its entirety. Our labor deserves nothing less. 

We look forward to continuing discussions on the entire Collective Bargaining Agreement. In January, we will bargain almost exclusively on Article 8 and economics. Far and away, this is the issue adjuncts want to see most changed. We are so grateful for the outpouring of support as we continue our collective efforts. 

You can make a major difference with two minor actions: 

1. Make certain all your respective colleagues are members, or are aware of our effort. Please share this post or any of our bargaining updates with your fellow faculty members, and ask your fellow adjuncts if they are members of the union. 

2. Join us at the bargaining table by observing! Not only will you be able to watch these conversations over basic work issues come to life, you’ll also be in a live chat room (using Slack) with other observers and the PSUFA bargaining team. Our next session won’t be until January, but you can check psufa.org/observer for updates. 

Have a happy and well-deserved winter break,

PSUFA