COCAL UPDATES - JANUARY 4, 2022 - Discussion published by Joe Berry on Thursday, January 13, 2022 - H-Net

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H-Adjunct

COCAL UPDATES - JANUARY 4, 2022
Discussion published by Joe Berry on Thursday, January 13, 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:

Due to the CORONA Virus, the COCAL XIV conference to be held in Querétaro, Mexico, has been
postponed until August 2022. Details at
————————————
SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Please see recent additions below.

Upcoming zoom event: Book Talk with Berry and Worthen : January, 14, 2021. Friday.
5:30-7:30 ET (3:30 CT, 2:30 PT)
To reserve a spot: https://marxedproject.org/event/power-despite-precarity/

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
ILWU local 5 portal at Paperbacks come with free e-
books. See two early reviews below.

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.

Citation: Joe Berry. COCAL UPDATES - JANUARY 4, 2022. H-Adjunct. 01-13-2022.
https://networks.h-net.org/node/3447/discussions/9482407/cocal-updates-january-4-2022
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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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

Early 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...

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...

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———————
SPECIAL NOTE #2: HIGHER ED LABOR UNITED PLANS FOR FUTURE AND SCHEDULES
SUMMIT FOR FEBRUARY 23-27, 2022

https://mailchi.mp/caa7ad99de74/helu-next-steps-february-summit?

———————
CCSF NEWS

1. Cantonese language claases at risk at CCSF
https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/cantonese-language-classes-in-jeopardy-at-ccsf/?fbclid=IwA...

———————————
INTERNATIONAL

1. Argentine teachers strike against neo-liberalism.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/12/public-schools-unions-argentina-working-conditions-larr...

2. Book chapter on professoriat internationally
https://www.academia.edu/39953689/The_Professoriate_in_International_Perspective

————————————
UPDATES IN BRIEF AND LINKS

1. Columbia The World Is Watching! Striking Student Workers of Columbia UAW Digital Solidarity
Meeting
https://youtu.be/jHXuz-2nuk4
The 2,000 Student Workers of Columbia - UAW who are on strike held a digital solidarity rally and
meeting on 12/23/21 and reported on the history of their fight, the union busting tactics of the
University and their latest demands. It is now the largest strike in the country and they want to build
support and solidarity.
Student Workers of Columbia - UAW

https://columbiagradunion.org/strike-2021/hardshipfunds/

2. U of NM grads win union in card count, University fights it in court
https://portside.org/2021-12-25/graduate-workers-win-union-card-count

3. From Who Gets the Bird?
K-12: This week saw an uptick in COVID actions among K-12 workers, as the Omicron variant spreads
like wildfire, especially along the East Coast. In Philadelphia, teachers at Olney Charter High School
called in sick en masse, forcing classes to go virtual, after a 17-year-old student died from COVID last
week. The MORE Caucus of the UFT in New York City began putting out daily bulletins to cover all
the school-based organizing, calling on schools to shut down early before the holiday to stop the
spread. Outside of COVID organizing, K-12 workers in Sandusky, OH have new contracts, after the

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last teachers contract expired in 2020.

4. From Rick Baum at CCSF.

I teach part time at City College of San Francisco (CCSF.) Under the recent union member ratified
concessionary one-year agreement, I expected a pay cut, but not one that results in my pay being
10% lower than it was in the spring. Including my loss of dental benefits, the cut in my salary
package comes to 14.2%.

Compared to many other part-time faculty, I am lucky—I still have a job teaching the same number of
classes. Those who lost their jobs are taking a 100% cut in pay.

In a May 8, 2021 union bulletin, the leaders of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) 2121,
representing CCSF faculty, described the one-year agreement as consisting of “progressive
concessions on salaries” in which the cuts “range from 4% to 11%,” a sacrifice that would preserve
jobs. Their description grossly understated the impacts of the cuts on part-time faculty.[1]

https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/12/27/how-exploited-job-insecure-part-time-faculty-get-s...

5. The financial shock in 2008 caused some short-term discomfort, but the richest universities were
buffered against these developments by continued growth of their endowments, and they used that
wealth to hasten a profound shift in the structure of higher education. Historically, the faculty was
the core of the university, assisted in their duties by a small cadre of administrators (often professors
taking time off from teaching duties). The need to control costs while attracting valuable, full-pay
students encouraged huge expansion in the range of student services and intensification of the
amenities arms race. To pay for the administrators necessary to provide these goods, universities
curtailed tenure-track hiring, relying instead on the cheaper, short-term instructors who have become
the majority of the faculty in the American university.

And so faculty of my generation are disillusioned, too. The dark mood isn't limited to thousands of
Ph.Ds who were trained for tenure-track positions that don't exist. Even some of those who secured
what are known in the trade as "good jobs" are questioning whether the benefits outweigh the costs.
COVID-related disruptions and policy changes are just the latest burden. Even the new rules work for
some instructors in some fields and at some levels, online classes are disastrous for the kind of
intensive, personalized seminars that drew many of us into the academy in the first place.

https://theweek.com/anniversary/1007584/doom-and-gloom-in-the-groves-of-academe

6. With the Omicron variant spreading rapidly and the fall semester now over, many faculty are
reflecting on the ongoing, disparate impact of the pandemic on their careers while bracing
themselves for what comes next. The pandemic already compounded inequalities for many women,
particularly women of color, and nonbinary faculty in tenure-track roles. Several say they are
stretched thin, again.

“I think everyone is just so exhausted,” said Dr. Leslie D. Gonzales, an associate professor in the

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higher, adult, and lifelong learning unit at Michigan State University in the College of Education. “I
have been in academia since 2010, and I have never been more tired. I definitely am not alone. I
know women of color especially have experienced loss after loss. And the university just keeps
plugging along.”

McClure pointed out that contingent faculty, or those who are not in tenured or tenure-track
positions, and staff members should not be forgotten when assessing the pandemic’s disparate toll on
the academic workforce. He has heard in interviews with staff in positions with high student contact
and relatively low compensation, that the pressures of their job are mounting, so leaving higher
education has become more appealing to many.

https://www.diverseeducation.com/faculty-staff/article/15286701/as-omicron-rages-on-so-doe...

8. From Who Gets the Bird?
Columbia University’s administration has tabled its “best and final offer” for UAW Local 2110, and it
seems like the final sticking point is primarily over recognition of “casual” and hourly student
workers as members of the bargaining unit. Whether the union will choose to consolidate the gains
on the table here and fight another day, or to stick it out and fight for these hourlies – many of whom
have been on strike alongside the rest of the student workers for the past eight weeks – sounds likely
to determine whether this thing ends.

and As Omicron surges during the holiday break, the K-12 reopening debate is roaring back to life; as
is not infrequently the case, the Chicago Teachers Union is leading the way, and talking about strike
action if the district won’t agree to two weeks of remote learning or negative tests for all students.
Obviously it’s not a problem unique to Chicago, it’s just that Chicago has one of the most proactive
and ready-to-strike unions in the country.

9. A good look at the impact of COVID in health care and education from teachers and nurses
https://www.thestrikewave.com/original-content/covid-capitalism-and-collapse-a-roundtable-...

10. From Penn St. letter to the editor comparing salary of new president and faculty adjuncts
https://triblive.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-wage-disparity-and-wealth-inequality/

11. "Part-Time Professors Deserve the Opportunity for Full-Time Work"

by Alexis Moore, Jack Longmate, and Keith Hoeller

In his veto message, [Governor] Newsom explained that he is “committed to considering options” in
the “forthcoming January budget proposal.” Primary among those options must be:

• Extending state-paid annual health insurance to all California professors who, at a minimum, teach
50% of full-time in an academic year, which is especially warranted during a pandemic.
• Including substantial money in his budget solely to increase part-time faculty salaries and related
benefits, as Washington state did in every biennial budget from 1996 until 2009 when the Great
Recession hit. Though Washington stopped short of full equality for its part-timers, it increased part-

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time salaries by $50 million.
• Amending Section 87482.3 of the California Education Code to eliminate the workload cap imposed
upon part-time college instructors.
• Abolishing the practice of allowing full-time instructors to teach overtime at will, thereby taking
courses and income away from poorly paid part-time instructors.
For complete article, please see:

https://edsource.org/2022/part-time-professors-deserve-the-opportunity-for-full-time-work/...

12. Dear friends and colleagues,
I'm proud to share that the WSJ printed my letter to the editor. See:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/columbia-university-strike-grad-student-workers-phd-union-116...

My letter was a response to this opinion piece on the strike by UAW-represented graduate assistants
at Columbia:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/united-auto-workers-of-the-ivy-league-columbia-university-116...

If you're on Twitter, please Re-tweet:
https://twitter.com/ben_kreider/status/1475912085947170820

Please share widely and let me know what you
think! https://twitter.com/ben_kreider/status/1475912085947170820?s=20

-Ben
--
Ben Kreider, Ph.D.
Policy Research Consultant
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkreider/

13. Ten predictions for the year ahead in labor, with campus labor at the top!

https://portside.org/2021-12-31/ten-predictions-year-ahead-labor

14. Notes from the Adjunct Underground, part 4

https://academeblog.org/2022/01/04/notes-from-the-adjunct-underground-part-iv-practice-wha...
______________________
That’s all for now,

Joe Berry, editor
co-author with Helena Worthen, of Power Despite Precarity: strategies for the contingent faculty
movement in higher education. Order at

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https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745345529/power-despite-precarity/ or from Powells through the
ILWU local 5 portal at
Paperbacks come with free e-books.

———————

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
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
______________________
Joe Berry
510-527-5889 phone/fax landline
21 San Mateo Road,
Berkeley, CA 94707
cell-510-999-0751
joeberry@igc.org or
joetracyberry@gmail.com
Skype: joeberry1948

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