NEW YORK, N.Y.—More than 800 adjunct and non-tenure-track faculty members at Fordham University voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first union contract, Fordham Faculty United/SEIU Local 200United announced July 18.
The three-year deal will give most adjunct faculty raises of 67% to 90%, and most will receive $7,000 to $8,000 per course by the contract’s third year. Full-time non-tenure-track faculty with full course loads will get a minimum annual salary of $64,000 by its third year, which will increase some salaries by $14,000. It also includes longer-term appointments and just-cause protections against dismissal. “We’re thrilled to be getting significant pay increases and job security in our first contract,” Diane George, an adjunct in sociology and anthropology and a member of the union negotiating committee, said in a statement. “While there are still substantial issues to be addressed, particularly for adjunct faculty, the contract represents a major step towards transforming the exploitative system of contingent employment that is destroying higher education in this country.” Fordham, like its fellow Jesuit institution Georgetown University, agreed to remain neutral in the union-organizing process, but another one, Santa Clara University in California, has refused to do so.
