Here in Steeler Country, there is an "organizing" movement that threatens a major upheaval at some of the local colleges, and yet another obligation for colleges and universities (and their students) to pull more money out of their asses to give to someone.
Most urban colleges use "adjunct" faculty to teach a lot of their courses, both undergrad and graduate. They pay them a pittance (a couple thousand dollars for a three-credit course, spread over 15 weeks), with essentially no benefits.
And yet the Free Marketplace provides the colleges and universities with a seemingly endless supply of highly-qualified, hard-working instructors to draw from, such that they never need to pay more than this modest "going rate."
But why would anyone do it, if the pay is so low and the benefits non-existent? Basically three reasons: (a) There are a lot of people who aspire to be full time faculty and are willing to live with many years of modestly-paid "apprenticeship" in order to remain in position for one of these jobs, should it ever come up. (b) There are a lot of well-educated people who are looking for part-time jobs that are interesting and stimulating, and keep them in touch with the world of academe. (c) There are a lot of professionals who simply enjoy teaching in the evening, or see it as possibly a way of drumming up additional clients for their law or accounting practices, or for their consulting businesses.
But you have many people who are very well educated and qualified, but who are only able to pitifully eke out a modest living, teaching a couple courses here and there, with essentially no employee benefits at all. If they work year round, it might only amount to $20-25 thousand, for weeks that can stretch to 60 hours, including grading of papers and exams.
Is this a situation that is ripe for Collective Bargaining? Are these people even "employees" in any real sense, teaching just a couple of courses at a time on a piece-meal basis?
Or should we simply say that these people are pursuing this economically UNrewarding lifestyle entirely of their own volition, and say "Fuck 'em."
Consider that a class of 40 undergrads taking a three credit course can be generating more than $200 thousand in calculated revenue for their university. And the teacher gets, say $2,500???
Is this fair?
But if the University is compelled to pay them, say $5,000 for that course (which would not be unreasonable, considering a F/T faculty member makes at least $50 grand a year), where will that money come from? The School Fairy?
Higher tuition?
It's a puzzle.
Most urban colleges use "adjunct" faculty to teach a lot of their courses, both undergrad and graduate. They pay them a pittance (a couple thousand dollars for a three-credit course, spread over 15 weeks), with essentially no benefits.
And yet the Free Marketplace provides the colleges and universities with a seemingly endless supply of highly-qualified, hard-working instructors to draw from, such that they never need to pay more than this modest "going rate."
But why would anyone do it, if the pay is so low and the benefits non-existent? Basically three reasons: (a) There are a lot of people who aspire to be full time faculty and are willing to live with many years of modestly-paid "apprenticeship" in order to remain in position for one of these jobs, should it ever come up. (b) There are a lot of well-educated people who are looking for part-time jobs that are interesting and stimulating, and keep them in touch with the world of academe. (c) There are a lot of professionals who simply enjoy teaching in the evening, or see it as possibly a way of drumming up additional clients for their law or accounting practices, or for their consulting businesses.
But you have many people who are very well educated and qualified, but who are only able to pitifully eke out a modest living, teaching a couple courses here and there, with essentially no employee benefits at all. If they work year round, it might only amount to $20-25 thousand, for weeks that can stretch to 60 hours, including grading of papers and exams.
Is this a situation that is ripe for Collective Bargaining? Are these people even "employees" in any real sense, teaching just a couple of courses at a time on a piece-meal basis?
Or should we simply say that these people are pursuing this economically UNrewarding lifestyle entirely of their own volition, and say "Fuck 'em."
Consider that a class of 40 undergrads taking a three credit course can be generating more than $200 thousand in calculated revenue for their university. And the teacher gets, say $2,500???
Is this fair?
But if the University is compelled to pay them, say $5,000 for that course (which would not be unreasonable, considering a F/T faculty member makes at least $50 grand a year), where will that money come from? The School Fairy?
Higher tuition?
It's a puzzle.
