COCAL UPDATES - APRIL 8, 2022 - Discussion published by Joe Berry on Sunday, April 10, 2022 - H-Net

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H-Adjunct

COCAL UPDATES - APRIL 8, 2022
Discussion published by Joe Berry on Sunday, April 10, 2022

A QUOTE TO REMEMBER:
Public schools are at the center of the manufactured breakdown of the fabric of everyday life. They
are under attack not because they are failing, but because they are public. Henry Giroux
----------------------------------------------------------------
COCAL is the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, a 20-plus year old network of contingent
activists and their organizations that does a conference (now tri-national - USA, CAN (including
QBC), and MEX) every other year, usually in August. 2018 was in San Jose, CA. and 2022 (waiting
another year!) will be in Queretaro, Mexico. It also sponsors a listserv, called ADJ-L, and has an
International Advisory Committee, a website, www.cocalinternational.org and Facebook
page , as well as this news aggregator, COCAL
UPDATES. See below at bottom for details on joining the listserv and other resources.
-----------------------------------------
UPDATE on COCAL XIV: August 4-7, Queretaro, Mexico (For French and Spanish versions, go to
the websites listed below,

SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE EDITOR : Please see recent additions below.

Pluto Books has released (August 2021) a new book, Power Despite Precarity: Strategies for the
Contingent Faculty Movement in Higher Education, by Joe Berry and Helena Worthen. Order
at https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745345529/power-despite-precarity/or from Powells through the

Citation: Joe Berry. COCAL UPDATES - APRIL 8, 2022. H-Adjunct. 04-10-2022.
https://networks.h-net.org/node/3447/discussions/10085862/cocal-updates-april-8-2022
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

H-Adjunct

ILWU local 5 portal at Paperbacks come with free e-
books. See reviews and recordings below. PDP blog at powerdespiteprecarity.org

The book starts with an atttempt to answer the repeated question: What is the best union contract for
contingents ion the US and how did they get it? Focusing on the 40 years' fight of Lecturers at the CA
ST U system, we attempt to tell that story and draw the lessons available from that long and
continuing struggle. We also look at the history of higher ed from the point of view of the faculty
workforce, suggest some strategies and frame some of the key strategic troublesome questions that
arise in nearly all efforts to organizing and fight collectively.

As editor of COCAL UPDATES, let me personally invite you to get and read the book and then send
me your comments (which I will share if you permit). We also solicit reviews in other media and
invitations to speak or give book talks. We are open to publishing selections in other places. Bulk
orders by unions and other groups are welcome and will receive a deep discount. A study guide for
use in study groups and book clubs is in process and will be available soon.

We hope that this book can be a useful addition to the continuing movement to organize contingent
faculty for action in our own behalf and, ultimately, to abolish contingency in higher education and
for all workers. If you can help with any of these efforts, please contact us at

In solidarity,
Joe Berry, editor, COCAL UPDATES

Reviews and interviews/presentations:

https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/summer-2021/contingent-faculty-organize-for-educa...

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/23/how-contingent-faculty...$

and an interview
https://soundcloud.com/user-831306647/power-despite-precarity

Here is the link to the presentation by Helena Worthen about our book, Power Despite Precarity:
Strategies for the Contingent Faculty Movement in Higher Educaiton, hosted by the Harry Bridges
Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington on October 27, 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCitHho9UhvvSKxZolF-7ywg/videos

and a recent review from Jacobin, by our PT colleague Fred Glass

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/11/colleges-universities-professors-adjunct-neoliberal
ism-...

and from the CA F of T Part-timer Newsletter
https://www.cft.org/article/power-despite-precarity-how-contingent-faculty-can-build-great...

H-Adjunct

November 2021:
Recent related article by Worthen and Berry in New Politics

https://newpol.org/tenure-is-the-easy-target-but-the-wrong-one/

Nov. 28, Editorial in LA Times mentioning book and quoting Berry, Worthen (and John Martin of
CPFA)
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2021-11-28/editorial-colleges-overreliance-on-adjunc...

Jan. 2022:

Recording of presentation to the Marxist Education Project (successor to the NYC Brecht School) on
PDP and lots of Q & A time after.

On Jan 22, 2022, at 4:33 PM, Michael Lardner wrote:

The Vimeo is here with password:
1/14/2022 Power Despite Precarity
https://vimeo.com/668772666
password = highered

February 23, 2022
Video of interview of H and J on podcast, Shelter and Solidarity (moderated partially by our comrade
Suren Moodliar, who has supported COCAL with his labor and advice for nearly 20 years

Dear colleagues, friends, and comrades:

For those who missed it, here is our Shelter & Solidarity discussion with Joe Berry and Helena
Harlow Worthen about their book POWER DESPITE PRECARITY: Strategies for the Contingent
Faculty Movement in Higher Education!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRZ5pp89P_I&t=127s

I really enjoyed hearing the authors explain some of their core ideas--including the notion of the
"Inside/Outside Strategy"-- as well as past experiences, and also how they engaged a range of
important questions from the live audience. There is LOT here to digest, and we've added time-
stamps below the video, to allow you to dip and dive in where you are most interested.

All best,
Joe Ramsey
for Shelter & Solidarity

Feb. 2022 Blog post by Helena Worthen
https://workingclassstudies.wordpress.com/2022/02/21/the-power-of-recognizing-higher-ed-fa...

H-Adjunct

February 28,2022 Reprint of chapter of PDP in Nonprofit Quarterly
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/power-despite-precarity-the-contingent-faculty-movement-as-...?

https://mailchi.mp/npqmag/top-articles-weekly-59425?e=7a1736f5d6

FEB. 25, 2022 Video of presentation to WA (State) AFT contingent faculty conference
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CShzoc0u6sEl0PVIsg8bAGjoR2ElfvNq/view?

American Educator (National AFT magazine) Sp 2022

https://www.aft.org/ae/spring2022/wwr

and from Truthout, 3/26/2022

https://truthout.org/articles/higher-education-is-now-a-battlefield-between-workers-and-co...
Jonathan Rosenblum
@jonathan4212
www.JonathanRosenblum.org

Article in Advocate, magazine of Texas State Teachers Assoc./NEA, see page 14, Sp. 2022

https://indd.adobe.com/view/1114ec73-ca81-49c5-8553-cad0fc6471d1

NYT on adjuncts with out pay, quote from Berry and mentions PDP book

On Apr 6, 2022, at 6:17 AM, Anemona Hartocollis wrote:

Thanks for your help, Joe, and good luck with the book. Your publisher sent it to me, and I plan to
read it.
Here’s the story.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/ucla-adjunct-professor-salary.html

SPECIAL NOTE #3:

New national AFT contingent faculty survey.

H-Adjunct

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AFTHigherED2022

———————
CCSF NEWS

1. https://www.sfexaminer.com/findings/showdown-on-s-f-college-campuses-points-to-crisis-in-h...

2. Photos of anti-layoff rally

Yes! The virtual is on your facebook page here: https://fb.watch/bOc5YAmxvI/

For those not on facebook, you can share this link directly with
them: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10B8QbSkZY_xH5F0aRg3WQSwceUFcnxEx/view?usp=sharing

Spencer

and Someone also posted the link on youtube:

https://youtu.be/xcl4ggTfepY
-----------------------------

INTERNATIONAL

1. Ontario possible faculty strike

Mon 14/03/2022 11:45

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 14, 2022

College faculty set strike deadline

TORONTO – Some 16,000 faculty at Ontario’s 24 public colleges say they will go on strike at 12:01
a.m. on Friday, March 18 if the College Employer Council (CEC) does not agree to voluntary binding
interest arbitration.

The faculty bargaining team sent an open letter to college presidents today, calling on them to do

Citation: Joe Berry. COCAL UPDATES - APRIL 8, 2022. H-Adjunct. 04-10-2022.
https://networks.h-net.org/node/3447/discussions/10085862/cocal-updates-april-8-2022
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

                                                               5

H-Adjunct

what is right to ensure students are protected and their school year is protected.

JP Hornick, chair of the bargaining team, said faculty are desperately trying to avoid a strike but says
the CEC is refusing to bargain or be reasonable.

“Our members are fighting for the best education for students,” said Hornick. “We haven’t made any
unreasonable demands, and everything we have asked for is easily achievable.”

Faculty, who are represented by OPSEU/SEFPO, rejected a final offer that the CEC tried to ram
through last month.

Rather than being on a picket line, faculty have been working to rule since December.

“Faculty have done our best to limit the impact of our strike action on students and to avoid a picket
line,” the bargaining team writes in their letter. “Now, however, you have again ramped up your
threats against individual faculty and appear to be moving toward a lockout instead of negotiating a
deal.”

Binding interest arbitration is frequently used in post-secondary education and other critical services.
It involves both parties’ asking a neutral arbitrator to resolve a bargaining dispute as an alternative
to a strike or lockout. Both sides provide proposals to the arbitrator, who in effect creates a
compromise from the two proposals.

The CEC has a different form of arbitration, where an arbitrator must choose the proposal of just one
of the parties.

OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas says it is still not too late to avoid a strike. “I
firmly believe we can reach a deal at the bargaining table,” said Thomas. “I’m convinced a deal is
there and that we can avoid a messy strike that is not in anybody’s best interests.”

As of 3/17/22

All parties agreed to voluntary binding interest arbitration late last night, so the strike is no longer
taking place.

2. Visiting faculty in Pakistan say they are exploited

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?

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———————————————

UPDATES IN BRIEF AND LINKS

1. Riverdale (IL) teachers strike

https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/riverdale-teachers-go-on-strike-calling-for-larger-raise...

2. U of VT medical residents form union (SEIU)

https://vtdigger.org/2022/03/07/amid-widespread-workforce-unrest-uvm-medical-center-reside...

3. Minneapolis teachers strike

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/us/minneapolis-st-paul-teachers-strike.html?auth=login-...

4. CFA (Cal St U system union, AAUP/SEIU) petitions against former President for history of ignoring
sexual misconduct

https://edsource.org/2022/cal-state-faculty-petition-demands-legislature-investigate-sexua...

5. Howard U contingents set to strike, SEIU 500

https://thedig.howard.edu/announcements/howard-university-responds-adjunct-and-temporary-f...

https://www.wunc.org/news/2022-03-18/howard-university-faculty-are-threatening-to-strike-o...

https://wtop.com/dc/2022/03/howard-university-faculty-members-plan-to-strike/

https://www.blackenterprise.com/howard-university-faculty-threatening-to-strike-over-worki...

and sign the support letter from HELU
Hi all,

HELU just released this statement of support, open now for signatures:
https://higheredlaborunited.org/news/solidarity-asks/statement-of-solidarity-with-howard-u...

H-Adjunct

Thanks,

Tracy Berger

and a good story and compilation of other links from Real News Network

https://therealnews.com/howard-university-faculty-win-tentative-agreement-just-hours-befor...?

6. Work for free as an adjunct at UCLA!! This is not a joke!

https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF04991

and IHE quoutes our colleague Helena Worthen on this

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/03/21/ucla-criticized-advertising-adjunct-job-wit...

and then they “apologize”

https://edsource.org/2022/ucla-apologizes-and-backtracks-on-controversial-ad-for-unpaid-ad...

and analysis by CHE

https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-a-faculty-union-at-howard-u-called-off-its-strike?

and finally a story in NYT (quoting your editor and UC-AFT Pres. Mia McIver and HELU leader Trent
McDonald

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/ucla-adjunct-professor-salary.html

6. Sonoma (CA) teachers strike

https://www.ksro.com/2022/03/10/cotati-rohnert-park-teachers-hit-picket-line-thursday-morn...

Citation: Joe Berry. COCAL UPDATES - APRIL 8, 2022. H-Adjunct. 04-10-2022.
https://networks.h-net.org/node/3447/discussions/10085862/cocal-updates-april-8-2022
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

                                                               8

H-Adjunct

7. Suburban Chicago teachers strike enter second week

https://wgntv.com/news/proviso-district-209-classes-canceled-remainder-of-week-over-strike/

8. This from the AFT 2121 email blast:

The Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) & SEIU 1021, representing teachers & classified
staff in Sacramento schools, are in their 3rd day of a strike for adequate staffing and a fair contract.
Thousands of teachers, staff, and community members have been on the picket lines with the rallying
cry, "Students, we've got your back!" In the words of SCTA President David Fisher, “Ironically we are
walking out to make sure every student has a teacher in the classroom.”

Despite a budget surplus, the district has refused to budge, invoking a short sighted and frankly anti-
student austerity logic that should be familiar to AFT 2121 members. Solidarity to our labor allies as
they stand up for the students and workers of Sacramento. See background on their struggle in the
Sacramento Bee and get live updates on SCTA & SEIU 1021's Twitter. And text "Sac City" to 48744
to learn how you can support them.

9. Of possible interest from a “sympathetic” manager

https://www.ccdaily.com/2022/03/faculty-as-change-agents/

10. MIT (MA) CHANCELLOR’S UNION BUSTING EMAIL TO GRADS (UE)

https://www.laborlab.us/mit_chancellor_sends_typical_union-busting_email_to_organizing_gra...

11. Texas adjunct fired for calling anti-microaggression flyers garbage

https://reason.com/volokh/2022/03/12/university-adjunct-prof-fired-for-labeling-flyers-abo...

and https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/03/15/judge-oks-professors-free-speech-case-
again...?

12. Inequality.org for this week

H-Adjunct

https://inequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/inequality-newsletter-march-14-2022.html?

13. News from the struggles of San Francisco pre-k-12 teachers in UESF

"Give Us Our Money" SF UESF Teachers Demand Pay & Occupy SFSUD Offices To Get Their Back
Pay
https://youtu.be/lkGP6v--84o
Dozens of SFUSD teachers and supporters rallied on 3/14/22 and demanded that they be paid for
their work. Hundreds have had paycheck problems which has caused stress and financial danger.
Speakers also reported that when the board told Vincent Matthews to cut the budget from the
administration he instead cutback the staff in payroll to cause the budget payment crisis.
Harrington and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond using the Fiscal
Crisis Management & Assistance Team FCMAT is also forcing a layoff of 150 teachers and staff in the
middle of a pandemic and with a state budget surplus of $45.7 billion. The Democrats including State
Assembly budget chair Phil Ting in San Francisco refuse to appropriate more money to stop the
layoffs.
Additional media:
No Cuts In the Classes! Trusteeship Threatened As SF UESF Teachers & Students Protest At SFUSD
HQ
https://youtu.be/p-zk1okKQXw
San Francisco School Board made harmful budget choices for students
https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/san-francisco-school-board-made-harmful-budget-choices-...
‘A cruel austerity agenda is the antithesis of what our students and schools need’
https://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/do-not-divest-from-direct-student-services-to-balance-s...
They Don't Care About Our Safety! UESF Teachers/Students/Staff Protest Lack of Testing &
Protection
https://youtu.be/sBSguJmsguI
My Working Conditions Are My Student's Living Conditions" SF UESF Teachers Caravan & Rally
Protest
https://youtu.be/t6sgpNGHfpM
Demos, Billionaires & War On Teachers & Public Education From SFUSD To OUSD With Jack Gerson
https://youtu.be/u52tZhMIt7M
Production of Labor Video Project
www.labormedia.net

14. Adjunct faculty at Mercy College (SEIU) threaten strike

https://westchester.news12.com/mercy-college-adjunct-professors-threaten-strike-if-contrac...

and https://patch.com/new-york/rivertowns/mercy-college-adjunct-faculty-vote-strike

H-Adjunct

and https://theimpactnews.com/news/2022/03/16/mercy-adjunct-strike-story/

and https://thehudsonindependent.com/strike-by-adjuncts-looms-at-mercy-college/

15. National Center for Study of CB in HE E-note for Feb

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/February-2022-Newsletter--News--Analysis--and-Updates....

16. Teachers in Cotati-Rohnert Park (CA) continue strike

https://edsource.org/updates/teachers-enter-fifth-day-of-strike-in-cotati-rohnert-park-uni...

17. This from Georgia

Hi Joe. Yesterday, I have submitted an op-ed piece to several publications regarding the unfair
treatment of part-time faculty by Georgia's governor and legislature. Last night, I heard back from
Maureen Downey at the AJC who really liked my piece and plans to run it. YAY! I am attaching it here
for you to review and maybe include in a COCAL update.

https://www.ucwga.com/news/will-part-time-faculty-ever-be-treated-dignity

Also below are a few links pertinent to my piece. Let me know what you think.

$1,000 payout:
https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/news/local/gov-kemp-state-leaders-announce-bonus...

$5,000 payout:
https://news.yahoo.com/kemp-proposes-5-000-pay-001210143.html

GA Open Records:

H-Adjunct

Open.Georgia.gov

United Campus Workers of GA
https://www.ucwga.com/

Regards,
Yvonne
Yvonne Wichman, M.A.
Part-Time Instructor of English
Department of English

440 Bartow Ave NW
Room 155, MD 2701
Kennesaw, GA 30144

p: 470-578-6297

e: ywichman@kennesaw.edu

18. Follow up on HELU summit” Wall to Wall and Coast to Coast”

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/wall-to-wall-coast-to-coast-the-2022-higher-ed-labor-united...

19. Also, the entire Higher Ed Newsletter of the Non-Profit Quarterly is worth a look (and a sub)

https://mailchi.mp/npqmag/higher-education-59421?e=7a1736f5d6

20. This from AFT Contingent/Adjunct Cauus chair to his members, but of interest to all of us

        Hi All:

        This is Geoff Johnson, the American Federation of teachers Adjunct Contingent Caucus
        President.

        I am sorry it has been so long in my putting forth a general email to the listserv, but a
        lot has been happening.

        AFT Higher Ed recently released an update of its "Army of Temps" report based on a
        2019 survey that was done during the height of COVID. One of our esteemed caucus
        members, Bobbi-Lee Smart, out of the Cerritos College Faculty Federation, wrote up the
        report.

Citation: Joe Berry. COCAL UPDATES - APRIL 8, 2022. H-Adjunct. 04-10-2022.
https://networks.h-net.org/node/3447/discussions/10085862/cocal-updates-april-8-2022
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

                                                              12

H-Adjunct

This report also led to the publishing of two articles, one in Inside Higher Ed, and the
other in The19th News. For my own part on the local level, the San Diego Union Tribune
carried the following editorial.

AFT Higher Ed will be releasing its 2022 Adjunct Contingent Faculty Quality of Work
Life survey as early as next week.

I have specifically requested both AFT Higher Ed and the AFT PPC (Program and Policy
Council) to release the survey earlier than it has been in the past to get far more people
to fill out the survey. Once I receive word of the survey's release, expect to receive word
of the survey through both the listservand the AFT-ACC social media campaign.

In California, we are working on a resolution to be submitted to the AFT national
convention calling for AFT to directly request the Department of Education to conduct a
study of Adjunct-Contingent Pay Inequity. The value in having such a study conducted is
that it would give us, in real numbers, the cost of inequity, and conversely, the cost of
what it takes to make things right. A recent veto of a CA adjunct legislation regarding
teaching loads forced the governor to put out a number regarding the cost of adjunct
healthcare, which was in turn used by CFT to push for statewide adjunct healthcare,
leading to a proposed 200-million dollar ongoing bump to the CA Community College
healthcare program--an increase of 400 times the present fund.

In addition, CFT is pressing ahead with bills to raise the teaching cap imposed at CA
Community Colleges, and push for pay parity, and recently unanimously passed the
following resolution to create a strategy for ending the "two-tier system". A key person
involved in both the writing and passage of the resolution was fellow caucus member
John Govsky, who is also CFT Part-time Committee Co-chair, and member of the AFT-
ACC.

The thing is, California is just one state, and my understanding is that several states are
doing the good work at the legislative and state budget level to improve adjunct-
contingent working conditions. Part of the current healthcare work in California has
been inspired by the work of Oregon adjuncts to improve their access to healthcare.

We, as a nationwide caucus, need to know what's happening in each other's state
legislative bodies. Presently, approximately 98% of US publicHigher Ed funding comes
from state budgets. Supporting and learning from each other's leg and budget
campaigns is a vital key to moving the needle on improving adjunct-contingent pay
conditions. To help in this endeavor, I have been in discussions with AFT Higher Ed to
create a tracking system for AFTHE Higher Ed Legislative Priorities which would be
published on the AFT website, making it easier for locals and feds throughout the
AFTHE to be aware of the work going on in other states. Expect to hear more of this in
the near future.

That said, if there are any current CFT-sponsored budgetary or legislative campaigns

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underway in your state or locality of note, please let the caucus know and we'll try and
get the word out.

Another note here, recent bylaw changes were put into place not only allowing for
graduate student teachers to join the caucus, but for there to be a
representative position for graduate student teachers on the Executive Council. I will
therefore be making a concerted effort in the next few weeks to reach out to AFT's
union locals representing Graduate Student Teachers to encourage their involvement in
the caucus, and ask that if you have connections to these locals, that you may encourage
them to reach out to me as well at mixinminao@gmail.com.

As our Summer general meeting went well, as with caucus elections coming up, it is my
hope that within the next two months we will be able to hold another general meeting,
which I will speak to the Executive Committee about.

As a final note, I'd like to send out congratulations to David Albert, who has been elected
president of the AFT Austin Community College local. David also serves on the AFT
Adjunct/Contingent Caucus as a Rep for local in "Right-to-Work States. David is a great
example of adjunct-contingent faculty leading the way, particularly in tough anti-union
environments.

In solidarity,

Geoff Johnson
AFT-ACC president

21. Minneapolis, MN teachers just showed how to strike and win

https://jacobinmag.com/2022/03/minneapolis-teachers-mft-strike-union-reform

and https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2022-03-29/students-return-to-minneapo..
.

22. CO faculty fight for collective bargaining rights bill

https://elbertcountynews.net/stories/higher-education-faculty-beg-lawmakers-to-pass-collec...

and https://www.coloradopolitics.com/legislature/collective-bargaining-draft-shows-counties-an...

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23. How charter school operators get rich

https://dianeravitch.net/2022/03/30/carol-burris-how-charter-operators-get-rich/

24. Journal article on adjunct union organization in St Louis area

https://www.academia.edu/65325798/Bargaining_for_Adjuncts_An_Assessment_of_Adjunct_Union_G...

25. Tiny Christian Hillsdale College is powerhouse in school privatization movement

https://dianeravitch.net/2022/03/17/kathryn-joyce-the-tiny-christian-college-that-is-leadi...

26. Best article so far on Amazon victory in NYC IMHO (these are our students in many cases)

https://jacobinmag.com/2022/04/amazon-labor-union-alu-staten-island-organizing

and another good one

https://jacobinmag.com/2022/04/amazon-warehouse-alu-staten-island-immigrant-workers

27. Labor Notes Updates

https://mailchi.mp/labornotes/20220305dispatch-163404?e=04129744d4

28. Adjuncts backbone of higher ed, push for improvements

https://19thnews.org/2022/03/adjunct-faculty-colleges-universities-better-pay-benefits/

29. From Who gets the bird

K-12: 4,000 K-12 educators in Minneapolis have been on strike for the past two weeks, primarily over
wages, particularly for the 1,000 ESPs (support staff known elsewhere as paraprofessionals); Barbara
Madeloni has the story at Labor Notes. While their neighbors in St. Paul settled a tentative

H-Adjunct

agreement (which they just ratified) at the last minute, the strike in some ways feels like the K-12
strike movement picking up where it left off in March of 2020, when COVID derailed the Red for Ed
movement birthed in West Virginia four years ago; St. Paul teachers were on strike March 10-13,
2020 (ending the day Trump declared COVID a national emergency; Minnesota closed its schools on
March 18). Eric Blanc laid out the national stakes of the Minneapolis strikefor The Nation.
In Sacramento, over 3,000 teachers and support staff (the latter repped by SEIU Local 1021) have set
a strike date of March 23rd, as the district faces major staffing shortages, among other issues.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, 20 educators spent the night at school district headquarters in protest
of some teachers not getting paid since the New Year, due to a payroll issue. Literally working
without pay in one of the most expensive cities in the country! An hour north, in Rohnert Park, CA,
teachers have a tentative agreement after a six-day strike. Mt. Diablo, CA teachers held a practice
picket as they threaten to strike next month.

Higher Ed: Around 350 non-tenure-track faculty and adjuncts with SEIU Local 500 at Howard
University say they’re ready to strike if a deal isn’t reached by Monday; per their
Twitter account, they’re meeting with the administration tomorrow, but a strike seems like a very live
possibility. 300 blue collar workers with AFSCME Local 1110 at Illinois State University are talking
about striking, after 19 negotiating sessions have failed to yield a contract. 1300 staff at
the University of Vermont who unionized with AFTnine months ago are still not close to a first
contract, with wages being the big sticking point.

and 125 workers at the Community Health Centers of Burlington, VT are organizing with AFT, as are
117 staff at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, with AFT Local 9608.

30. Inequality.org

https://inequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/inequality-newsletter-march-21-2022.html?

and https://inequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/inequality-newsletter-april-4-2022.html?...

31. USA Today on adjuncts

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2022/03/21/adjunct-professors-struggle-low-w...

32. Summit charter school chain (for profit, public money) in SF Bay Area (9 elementary and middle
schools) just voted over 90% to strike after many months of failed negotiations. Support wanted
(CTA/NEA)

H-Adjunct

Regarding next steps that folks were asking about today, until Unite Summit Union decides what
other asks will be, here is what solidarity can look like for now:

• sign our petition for a fair contract now

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/retain-teachers-support-students-and-settle-the-contra...

• Pledge to our strike fund

https://actionnetwork.org/forms/unite-summit-strike-fund-pledge?source=direct_link&

• Follow Unite Summit on Instagram (@Unite_Summit)

• Links to all of this can be found at tinyurl.com/SupportUniteSummit

Solidarity,
Miguel

32. Good article from Convergence (fomerly Organizing Upgrade) on Contingent faculty, HELU et al

https://convergencemag.com/articles/higher-ed-labor-unites-for-equity-for-all-faculty-staf...

33. Long Beach (CA) adjuncts sue for pay for unpaid work hours (grading, prep, advising, etc.)

https://edsource.org/2022/long-beach-community-college-adjuncts-sue-over-unpaid-work-hours...

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/parttimeparitynow

34. Wonderful new article on how even Medicare for All, plus is not enough in the age of for profit
health care providers. By two founders of PNHP

https://portside.org/2022-04-03/medicare-all-not-enough

35 Next labor battlefield may be higher ed

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/03/25/colleges-faculty-unions-labor/

36. Labor Notes updates

H-Adjunct

https://mailchi.mp/labornotes/20220325dispatch?e=04129744d4

and https://mailchi.mp/labornotes/20220325dispatch-163424?e=04129744d4

37. We should not hide from our students

https://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2022/03/i-dont-think-we-should-be-hiding-from-our-s...

38. Honest critical study of racism in US higher ed

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20220324083824189

39. This from a UCW activist colleague in GA

On Mar 28, 2022, at 11:38 AM, Yvonne Wichman wrote:

Yes, it is, Joe. Here's a link to the UCWGA website where it is posted. It will soon be in
the Atlanta Journal Constitution too. I'm working with the AJC editor now regarding
some additions to my piece. But you may use the union website for your COCAL updates.

https://www.ucwga.com/news/will-part-time-faculty-ever-be-treated-dignity

Will Part-Time Faculty ever be treated with dignity? | Communications Workers
of America
In my 23 years of teaching freshmen composition at Kennesaw State University as a
part-time faculty member, I have overcome so many slaps in the face by the Board of
Regents (BoR) for the University System of Georgia (USG) as well as whoever is sitting
in the governor’s seat at the time. Raises here, improved benefits there, but sadly, none
of these job perks ever filter down
www.ucwga.com

40. March E-Note from National Center for Study of CB in HE and Prof.

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/March-2022-Newsletter--News--Analysis--and-Updates.htm...

H-Adjunct

41. From Who gets the bird?

STRIKES & NEGOTIATIONS

The Minneapolis K-12 strike is over, long live the Sacramento K-12 strike! From the former, of
particular interest is the interview with two strike leaderspublished by Eric Blanc at Jacobin today.
From the latter, Peter Lucas covered what’s at stake for the teachers and SEIU Local 1021-repped
support staff. Michael Sainato has the bird’s eye view for the Guardian. Meanwhile, teachers
in Champaign, IL have filed their 10-day strike notice.

and 350 Illinois State University maintenance, dining, and other workers with AFSCME Local
1110 voted to authorize a strike by 96%, with 80% turnout; they’ll have to provide 10 days
notice before they actually walk off the job. In DC, SEIU Local 500 is busy at both Howard University,
where a strike threatcame right up to the edge of a work stoppage, and American University, where
students rallied with educators. The Washington Post wrote about the general uptick in campus labor
organizing.

and 34 educators at Urban Pathways charter school in Pittsburghare joining AFT Local 6056.

and 170 grad student workers at Clark University in Worcester, MA voted 100-7 to join Teamsters
Local 170 (a fortuitous local number), the first sizable grad student worker unit to join the Teamsters
union (University of Chicago student library workers are Teamsters but that’s obviously a more
limited group). 48 educators at the private Blue School in NYC voted 24-4 (I think, the NLRB count
math doesn’t add up, but they won) to join UAW Local 2110, as they continue their win streak. 34
librarians at the Claremont Colleges in Claremont, CA voted 17-4 to join the California Federation of
Teachers.

and Outside the NLRB: 939 graduate student workers at New Mexico State University won their card
check election with UE, as that union expands its higher education membership. 150 K-12 educators
at two Caliber-run charter schools in Vallejo and Richmond, CA have filed for recognition with
the IWW.

and The Sacramento City Teachers Association and SEIU Local 1021 are still on strike
in Sacramento, and parents have taken to occupying the school district’s headquarters. The district
raised its wage offer, but health care cuts are still on the table, and class size and more student
supports remain core issues that don’t seem to be meaningfully addressed by the district’s
counter. Other K-12: In the St. Louis area, 120 educators at five Catholic high schools are preparing
to strike; they recently met at the Basilica for Mass with supporters. In Lawrence, KS, K-12
support staff with PAL-CWA rallied at the school board meeting for, among other things, a $15

H-Adjunct

minimum wage; 400 of these workers make under $13 currently. Rochester,
NY educators ratifiedtheir new contract by 60%. Elk Grove, CA school bus drivers with ATU Local
256 have a new contract, after their last one expired in June and strike talk was rumbling at least
since September. Educators in Dickinson, ND are in negotiations over extending the school day
and/or getting a 1% raise.

and Hundreds of graduate student workers at Indiana University are preparing for a recognition
strike with the UE; the administration rebuffed their requests for an official election, so they’ll have
to win their union the harder (but stronger) way.

and . 54 K-12 educators at Menlo Park Academy charter school in Cleveland voted a whopping 46-3
to join AFT Local 6570.

42. Thousands of graduate student workers around the US at private and public universities have
gone on strike over the past few years, from Ivy League institutions like Harvard
University and Columbia University to public state universities in California.

Graduate workers at even more colleges have organized unions in spite of staunch opposition from
their administrations. Among the most pressing unifying themes among graduate student workers
organizing unions and holding protest actions and strikes is the low pay, an issue plaguing graduate
student workers around the US.

In the US, graduate workers take on jobs such as helping teach courses, assisting with research
projects and performing often vital clerical tasks that help run academic institutions.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/30/us-graduate-students-protest-against-low-p...

43. NYC adjunct memoir published

https://dailyfreepress.com/2022/03/29/bu-alum-releases-memoir-of-life-as-a-bustling-adjunc...

44. Fordham (NYC) grads fight to unionize

https://fordhamobserver.com/68427/news/fordhams-graduate-student-workers-fight-to-unionize/

45. Adjuncts eat out of food pantry in Fort Worth, TX

Citation: Joe Berry. COCAL UPDATES - APRIL 8, 2022. H-Adjunct. 04-10-2022.
https://networks.h-net.org/node/3447/discussions/10085862/cocal-updates-april-8-2022
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

                                                              20

H-Adjunct

https://www.fwweekly.com/2022/03/30/higher-ed-lower-wages/

46. In case you missed this, well worth a look

https://portside.org/2022-04-04/higher-ed-labor-unites-equity-all-faculty-staff-and-students

47. New national AFT contingent faculty survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AFTHigherED2022

48. Yesterday Mercy College adjuncts authorized SEIU Local 200United to call a strike by a margin of
92% voting yes. We will be announcing strike dates for early May and are putting a call out for staff
help. Please let me know if you or someone you work with can assist with the strike campaign to help
Mercy adjuncts win a pay increase and job security. This is a good opportunity to work on a
strike campaign.

Solidarity,

Chris

For Immediate Release
Contact: Chris Machanoff - 585.880.3345, cmachanoff@local200united.org

Mercy College Adjunct Faculty Vote Overwhelmingly to Authorize Strike

After 2.5 years of negotiations towards a first contract, Mercy College’s 700 adjunct faculty
authorized their bargaining committee to call for a strike if no contract is reached by the end of this
semester.

DOBBS FERRY - After two days of in-person and virtual voting, Mercy Faculty Forward/Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 200United, which represents the over 700 adjunct
faculty and lecturers at Mercy College, voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if a fair first
contract is not reached before the end of this semester. The vote passed overwhelmingly, with 92%
voting to authorize the union negotiating committee to call for a strike.

Steve Ochser, a Mercy Faculty Forward/SEIU negotiating committee member and adjunct in the
Education department, said, “This extremely positive vote for authorizing a strike speaks volumes
about the support of the adjunct faculty and lecturers in seeking a fair wage for our work and
improvements in our students’ learning conditions. If President Tim Hall and his administration want
to avert a disruptive strike, it’s time they come to the table and bargain in good faith to reach a fair

Citation: Joe Berry. COCAL UPDATES - APRIL 8, 2022. H-Adjunct. 04-10-2022.
https://networks.h-net.org/node/3447/discussions/10085862/cocal-updates-april-8-2022
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

                                                              21

H-Adjunct

first contract this semester.”

The vote comes after over two and a half years of contract negotiations and 30 bargaining sessions
with the Mercy College administration. While many tentative agreements have been reached on
issues relating to professional development funding, just cause protections, and more, the
administration refuses to budge on key economic and job security issues and insists on an anti-union
open shop provision.

Adjunct faculty and lecturers make up over 70% of Mercy College’s faculty. Despite this, a majority
make only $3,000 per course. They work without job security, on temporary semester-by-
semester appointments. The union’s most recent counter proposal calls for a significant increase in
the base pay per course with increases over the life of the agreement and for two-year appointments
with course guarantees. The administration’s most recent proposal provides for an increase of just
$200 to $300 per course with no guarantees of any increases over the life of the agreement and no
course guarantees for adjuncts, despite the fact that many have taught at the college for years.

Catherine Johnson, also a member of the union negotiating committee, said, “Our membership has
provided us with a clear mandate to authorize a strike if the Mercy administration does make
significant improvements in their proposals at the bargaining table. We do not want to strike, but the
current low pay and lack of job security is unsustainable for ourselves, our families, and our students.
I hope the Mercy administration hears this message loud and clear.”

After the strike authorization vote count, students voiced their support for Mercy College’s adjunct
faculty and are prepared to support them in the event of a strike.

Loushema Lott-Coakley, a senior at Mercy College studying international relations, said, “I hope a
strike can be averted. But if there is one, I and other students will join the strike and stand with
our professors. I call on the administration to improve our adjuncts' compensation and job security if
they are concerned about a strike disrupting our education.”

Catherine Borgia, Chair of the Westchester County Legislature, said: “More than two years ago, the
adjunct faculty at Mercy College voted to form a union. Yesterday, adjuncts and lecturers, who make
up over 70% of the College’s instructional personnel , voted by secret ballot to authorize a strike.
Mercy College management should move expeditiously to establish an equitable contract with the
union. The adjunct faculty at Mercy College deserve a pay consistent with area labor standards and
the same protections as almost every other union contract. Mercy students deserve faculty that can
fully focus on education and not a daily struggle for economic survival.”

The strike authorization vote allows for the union bargaining committee to call for a strike at any
time. More bargaining sessions are scheduled in an effort to avert a strike before the end of the
spring semester.

###

Chris Machanoff (he,him,his)

H-Adjunct

SEIU Local 200United
585.880.3345

49. Wall to wall and coast to coast: the HELU higher ed summit

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/wall-to-wall-coast-to-coast-the-2022-higher-ed-labor-united...

50. CA bills to aid CC adjuncts

https://edsource.org/2022/pair-of-bills-to-aid-community-college-adjuncts-advance-in-state...

51. Teachers holding second jobs

https://edsource.org/updates/teachers-often-work-a-second-job-outside-of-the-classroom

52. Petition to support U of Chicago library workers

https://www.coworker.org/petitions/support-teamsters-local-743-1

53. From Payday Report

UE Wins MIT Election to Represent 3,800 Workers

Today the nation’s largest independent union, the United Electrical Workers (UE), won big after a
union election to represent 3,800 MIT graduate employees passed by a margin of 1785 to
912 students.

In a letter to students, MIT signaled they would immediately recognize the union and begin
bargaining with the union in the coming months.

“What started four years ago with a dozen students in an MIT classroom discussing the needs of
graduate workers has culminated in this historic victory for student-workers at MIT. Now,
we celebrate!” the union wrote on Twitter.

and Hundreds of Wisconsin Autoworkers Strike Over Two-Tier Wage System

Over 265 autoworkers at Vollrath in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, went on strike Monday. The union called
for the elimination of the two-tier wage system.

H-Adjunct

"We welcome the company coming back to the table with meaningful proposals to address our
members' concerns,” UAW Local 1472 President Rob Kilgore said in a release. “We welcome good-
faith proposals and efforts to address our members' economic issues that are critical to our families.”

For more, check out the Sheboygan Press.

and St. Louis Labor Council calls out terracher union busting by Catholic Archdiocese

https://labortribune.com/st-louis-labor-council-against-st-louis-archdioceses-attempt-to-d...

54. Labor Notes PHEW meeting

Hi all:

Our next PHEW meeting is Friday April 8 at 3 PM Eastern time.
Here is the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88023420780

We had a great meeting last week talking to our comrades at William Paterson about organizing for
their slate and navigating and tracking election shenanigans. It was a meeting that reminded me of
the wisdom in this group and how we can support each other.

Looking forward to seeing you this week and talking more about the Labor Notes Conference.

in solidarity
Barbara
--
Barbara Madeloni
413- 695 6658
_____________________

RESOURCES

"Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education". by Joe Berry, from
Monthly Review Press, 2005. Look at for full information,
individual sales, bulk ordering discounts, or to invite me to speak at an event or
email joeberry@igc.org.

To regularly receive this periodic news aggregator, COCAL Updates, Email

To join international COCAL listserve email If this

H-Adjunct

presents problems, send an e-mail to vtirelli@aol.com or, send "Subscribe" to

Join the national membership organization for contingent faculty and their allies, New Faculty
Majority (NFM). Support, resources,and strategies for all things related to precarious faculty.

To access the Center for the Study of Academic Labor (CSAL) and its journal “Academic Labor:
Research and Artistry” go to https://csal.colostate.edu

To access "Workplace: a Journal of Academic Labor" go
to https://ices.library.ubc.ca/index.php/workplace/index

Also COCAL XIV in August, 2022 in Queretaro, Mexico. WWW.COCALINTERNATIONAL.ORG
______________________
co-author with Helena Worthen, of Power Despite Precarity: strategies for the contingent faculty
movement in higher education. Order
at https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745345529/power-despite-precarity/ or from Powells through the
ILWU local 5 portal at
Paperbacks come with free e-books.
PDP blog at powerdespiteprecarity.org

———————
Joe Berry
21 San Mateo Road,
Berkeley, CA 94707
cell-510-999-0751
joeberry@igc.org or
joetracyberry@gmail.com
Skype: joeberry1948

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