Negotiations for a new contract for adjuncts at PSU continue, and your incredible bargaining team is bringing their A game to the table! Here with the latest session recap is bargaining team member Anna Gray:
“At our Friday, April 4th bargaining session things started to heat up!
After a brief discussion of a PSUFA counter proposal on Article 18: (Notices and Communications), PSU shared a counter proposal for Article 9 (Personnel Files), which led to a discussion about University transparency.
PSUFA also opened Article 3 (Union Rights & Privileges), with a strong presentation that stressed how essential Adjuncts and our Union are to the University. Citing evidence of how unionization helps foster a more engaged faculty body and helps educational institutions function more effectively, PSUFA proposed changes that would allow our Union to operate and communicate with members more easily. Our proposed language also expanded important protections for Adjuncts, like adjusting our “no strike clause” in an effort to guard free speech and the right to protest, as well as the right for Adjuncts to refuse extra work if other faculty or staff go on strike.
PSU then responded with a proposal for Article 4 (Orientation and Onboarding). They chose to entirely reject the proposal PSUFA gave on this topic last session and instead composed an entirely new proposal. In comparison to the robust presentation and expansive proposal that PSUFA gave on March 21, which included renaming Article 4 as Adjunct Orientation, Onboarding, and Inclusion and offered multiple provisions for onboarding adjuncts and integrating them into the PSU community, the University’s proposal was anemic.
PSU’s proposal would strip your Union of the right to be placed on the agenda at Departmental Orientations and lacked detail about how Orientation would be offered outside of Fall Term. Given that Article 4 functions as one of the most substantive articles related to the meaningful inclusion of Adjuncts into the campus community – with much potential for reimagining and codifying Adjunct integration and collaboration – PSU’s Article 4 proposal offered no creativity or real vision. At the table, PSU’s team talked eagerly about putting orientation material on Canvas and did not address the concerns expressed by PSUFA about adjunct isolation and the need for broader inclusion in the University. PSU did agree to PSUFA’s proposed payment structure for New Hires to attend Orientation. This would end the long-standing problem of orientation for new hires as a form of unpaid labor.
Your bargaining team spent the rest of the session scrutinizing how the University’s proposal could actually lead to practices that increase faculty success & foster a sense of inclusion for part-time faculty. More to come on this in the future!
We had observers join us both online and in-person for this session. Thank you to those who attended, keep it up! Observing bargaining puts pressure on Admin and shows our power and solidarity. Our next bargaining session is scheduled for April 18 from 9:30-1:30. Your team will present contract language to make our entire university community more safe and to protect teaching and learning as human-centered activities. Once again, your team will use these negotiations to promote a quality education for our students!”