As academics, we are trained to study the world around us.
So here is what the research says about unions.
So here is what the research says about unions.
How unions benefit faculty
Adjunct faculty won salary increases at every institution we looked at….Ninety-seven percent of the collective-bargaining agreements in our sample provided increased job security for contingent faculty. Kristen Edwards and Kim Tolley, Chronicle of Higher Education
How unions benefit students
At most institutions (83 percent of those we examined), adjunct faculty members have also won increased resources to support their teaching and advising of students. Kristen Edwards and Kim Tolley, Chronicle of Higher Education
How the Duke Faculty Union has helped faculty
When M.J. Sharp became an instructor at Duke University in 2012, the $7,500 she earned for one course was just enough after taxes to cover her annual health-care premium. She fought for more classes and university health insurance. It took months to secure four classes, but Sharp still had no assurance the university would invite her back from one year to the next….For Sharp at Duke, the ratification of the university’s first adjunct union contract in 2017 meant a pay raise to $8,100 per course. She also secured a three-year contract and access to money for professional development.” Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Washington Post
Why faculty need unions
With courses that need to be taught every semester led by an interchangeable set of adjuncts, the schools seem to be doing just what trucking companies, housecleaning services, and now app-driven businesses such as Uber and Lyft have been accused of doing: misclassifying workers as contractors. Especially when a teacher is asked to carry out similar responsibilities as full-time permanent staff but for less than half the salary, there may be grounds to believe that universities and colleges are evading their legal obligations as employers. And with the over representation of women in these jobs, it seems possible that many of these universities could be violating not only labor laws but civil-rights laws as well.” Caroline Frederickson, The Atlantic
How unions benefit workers
New evidence shows that unions played a major role in reducing income inequality in the United States in the decades when organized labor was strong.” Susan Dynarski, New York Times
Read more about faculty unions
The adjunctification of the American university
Former Duke faculty member talks about the death of his profession
The benefits of faculty unions
The Chronicle of Higher Education explains how unions help adjuncts
The American Prospect discusses the benefits of faculty unions
The Duke Faculty Union in the news
Duke adjunct faculty vote to unionize
DFU reaches union agreement with Duke administration
DFU member M.J. Sharp talks about her experience in the Washington Post
Victories at other campuses