What are workers to do when, after they file a petition for a union election, the employer declares the entire workforce no longer employed? That’s what happened early this summer to adjunct faculty trying to organize at East-West University in downtown Chicago.
A letter to all faculty was accompanied by a demand that every faculty member schedule a private meeting with the chancellor and be interviewed before they could be re-hired to teach classes in the summer or fall.
East-West University is a predominantly African-American (both faculty and students) private, not-for-profit institution of 1,100 students focused on international education and access to college for nontraditional students. It was founded by the present chancellor, Dr. Mohammed Wasiullah Kahn. East–West has always had most of its students on federal financial aid. The 50-plus part-time adjuncts teach over 80 percent of the courses, and even the small number of full-time faculty have no tenure rights or job security.
Lead faculty organizer Curtis Keyes of the United Adjunct Faculty Association of EWU says, “They call it a university but they run it like a bank.”
There was no shortage of issues that led faculty, many with decades of seniority, to finally attempt to organize and file a union petition under the auspices of the Illinois Education Association (IEA) May 26. A key issue was the pervasive lack of respect for adjunct faculty as teachers, manifested in a pay policy where faculty were paid for the first half-term’s work only after turning in their midterm grades. This meant that teachers would go well over a month without any pay, which is probably illegal in Illinois. The same pattern was repeated at the end of the term.
Faculty were teaching four-unit full-quarter classes (11 weeks) for well under $1,500, which included lecture preparation, grading, student advising, and all other related work.
The history of fear among the adjunct faculty was well-founded, with teachers in the past being fired for talking union or publicly expressing disagreement with administration policies. In 2004, East-West was singled out for an “F” grade in its treatment of faculty by the international Conference of Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL).
Despite extreme repression, organizers were able to get over 50 percent of the adjunct faculty to sign cards. Just finding these faculty was a major undertaking, since they teach at all hours. At about the same time as the firings, the administration implemented the first pay raises since 2004, “in response to the ‘threat’ of unionization,” according to Keyes.
WEED OUT ORGANIZERS
Not surprisingly, the interviews with the chancellor were used to weed out core organizers, including Keyes, and deny them previously assigned classes for both the summer and the fall.
An unfair labor practice charge was filed, but more important, the teachers counterattacked. Press releases were written, public picket lines were held, and support was garnered from the Chicago chapter of COCAL (click here for updates) and from sister adjunct IEA locals at Columbia College and Roosevelt, both within two blocks of East-West.
Students stood up and organized themselves and joined the picket lines, as well as some recent alumni who were scandalized at the behavior of this supposedly progressive institution and administration. While this very public struggle was going on, East-West had the temerity to challenge the unemployment applications of those it had denied work.
Demonstrations continued through the summer. A film was made by Labor Beat and posted here on YouTube. Articles appeared in the academic press, and publicity and resolutions were raised at the international COCAL conference in Quebec in August and at the national American Federation of Teachers convention in July. The American Association of University Professors issued a statement. Top leaders of the IEA and National Education Association, the East-West faculty affiliates, also began to speak out. A delegation met with Congressman Danny Davis of Chicago, a member of the East-West board of trustees. He promised to speak to the administration.
Finally, on August 31 the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint and notice of hearing, giving the East-West administration a week to negotiate an adequate solution to the charges or face a formal hearing and possible judgment against it. Before the hearing date was scheduled, the administration partially caved in and agreed to re-hire those it had fired and pay them for the summer courses they had been deprived of.
It remains unclear whether East-West plans to continue its illegal opposition to unionization of the faculty. It could, of course, at any time, choose to recognize the union that clearly represents the majority and bargain a contract. Or it could force an election, with all the delays and opportunities for intimidation that that process entails.
For now, the leadership of the union is back at work teaching and busily trying to find and speak to the many newly hired adjuncts, and to spread the word of this victory to those who had been afraid to become involved themselves.
DIRTY SECRET
It may seem odd to read of such a struggle by college teachers, who may be supposed to live in a world of educated civility, job security, and living wages. Their struggle highlights the dirty secret of higher education in America: that as it has continued to expand since the 1970s, it has expanded on the backs of a casualized, underpaid workforce who now teach most of the classes in higher education and comprise over 70 percent of the faculty. With most high school graduates now accessing higher education at some point in their lives, what happens at colleges as workplaces is a matter of concern for everyone.
Support messages can be sent to the United Adjunct Faculty Association of EWU at EWUADJUNCTS [at] gmail [dot] com.
Letters demanding that the EWU administration cease its resistance to faculty unionization and commence bargaining can be sent to Chancellor Dr. Mohammed Waisullah Khan, East-West University, 816 Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60605, chancellor [at] eastwest [dot] edu, 312-939-0111, fax 312-939-0083, and to Provost Dr. Madhu Jain, madhu [at] eastwest [dot] edu, 312-939-0111, at the same address and fax.
Joe Berry is outgoing chair of the Chicago Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor and author of Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education.
