Bullhorn - Sept 2008

Faculty In Focus: The Union Difference Meant Job Security

I was one of the first to support the effort at GWU to organize a union for part-timers when first approached about the union by Prof. Kip Lornell of the Music Dept. back in the spring of 2004. I had been a member of the University of Toronto’s union for graduate teaching assistants back in the 1980s. I was astonished, upon my return to Washington, 15 years and two terminal degrees later, to be offered less per course for more poorly defined workloads.

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Labor Management Committee Update

July 24th witnessed an historic event in labor history at The George Washington University -- the first meeting of the Joint Labor Management Committee. I represented the part-time faculty at this meeting, while Lewie Anderson represented SEIU-Local 500. The University sent five folks, led by VP Annie Wooldridge.

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Health Benefits Committee Update

On July 31, members of the SEIU Local 500 Part-Time Faculty Health Benefits Committee met for the second time with the GW team. The goal of the meeting, established at our first meeting a few months earlier, was to begin to nail down just what health care GW adjuncts already had and the kind of coverage we most need.

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GW FAQ: Your Union, Your Contract

From minimum teaching rates to course cancellations, this is your guide to your union and your contract.

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September 2008

Did You Know?At GW, approximately 60 percent of the teaching faculty is part-time.

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GW: Further Readings

Reclaiming the Ivory Tower examines adjunct professors and U.S. higher ed today, describes how to organize to improve conditions in the industry, and puts forward an agenda around which adjunct labor can mobilize and transform the universities.

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Steal This University documents the rise of the corporate university over the past twenty years as well as the academic labor movement that has developed in response.

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