Dear Members,
Here’s our bargaining recap from last week, when we met on Tuesday, May 30, and Friday, June 2.
The focus of the discussion on Tuesday was a cost of living adjustment (COLA). We argued that we deserve a one-time 10% COLA to our current per-credit minimum, with annual increases thereafter between 1.75% and 3.5% (depending on the Consumer Price Index).
The reasoning behind this one-time 10% COLA is simple and, we believe, extremely compelling. In 2019-2020, our per-credit minimum was $1,043. In today’s dollars, that is equivalent to $1,232. And $1,232 is a 10% increase over $1,120, our current per-credit minimum. $1,232 makes us whole relative to where we were in 2019-2020.
PSU administration did not engage as substantively as we would have liked about this proposal, as they wanted first to have a proposal for an increase to our current per-credit minimum. They didn’t want to engage with our COLA proposal in isolation. We left the meeting feeling that not as much had been accomplished as we would have liked.
A key component of Friday’s discussion was equity. Non-tenure track faculty (NTTF) are permanent faculty at PSU who are not tenure stream. We argued that a commitment to equity requires that the adjunct per-credit minimum should be at least as high as the equivalent of what the lowest paid NTTF is paid per credit. At least. Otherwise, we’re simply getting paid less to do the same job.
PSU administration responded by claiming that there are “instructional activities” that NTTF perform that adjunct faculty do not. We pressed them to delineate what these activities are. They struggled with this, eventually citing undergraduate advising and unpaid independent studies as examples.
We also detected a suggestion on the administration’s part that, because some adjunct faculty have full-time jobs elsewhere, this justifies their low pay at PSU. We claimed that it makes no sense to have one’s pay affected by what one makes elsewhere. Finally, the administration also noted that Article 12, Section 6 of our CBA allows us to be compensated for activities like those “instructional activities” the NTTF perform, such as undergraduate advising. This struck as an admission on their part that adjuncts do perform this work, just like our NTTF colleagues.
The problem, though—as we articulated to them multiple times, with myriad examples—is that the system to compensate adjuncts for work laid out in Section 6 is entirely broken, since the money for the compensation has simply not been budgeted. In effect, then, we are performing the same instructional activities as NTTF, but not getting paid for them.
PSU keeps claiming that they are committed to equity and fair pay. The only way for them to make good on that commitment is to pay us fairly and equitably and to listen in good faith to our proposals for what that looks like.
We appreciate all of the support we have received from you all, and we want to extend a special thank you to all of you who were observers this past week.
We hope you can join us as an observer at our next two sessions:
Friday, June 9: 2pm - 5pm. This is remote-only. Join us over Zoom!
Friday, June 16: 9am - 3:30pm (Lunch 12-1). Remote and in-person at Karl Miller Center (KMC), Room 318. Key card needed to access building.
In solidarity,
PSUFA Bargaining Team