NLRB ruling on unionization of part time faculty at religiously affiliated universities.

The Hill reports that the NLRB ruled in favor of allowing part-time professors to organize at religiously affiliated universities.  The article states:

In a landmark decision last month, the National Labor Relations Board cleared away two major obstacles to higher education faculty organizing in Pacific Lutheran University, 361 NLRB No. 157 (2014) (PLU). The PLU decision – perhaps the most significant decision regarding faculty organizing in over 30 years – removes barriers to unions at religiously-affiliated institutions, and secures organizing rights for professors on private campuses. It will allow faculty to unite on campuses across the country, fueling a vibrant movement that in the past two years alone welcomed over 6,000 university and college professors into the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Adjunct and contingent professors, who are now the majority of faculty in this country, share the challenges facing workers across our new low wage economy. Despite high qualifications and long hours on the job, many professors live in poverty, cobbling together piecework for multiple employers. The January 2014 Report from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Democratic Staff, “The Just-In-Time Professor,” documents that the national median pay for a three-credit course is just $2,700. The report chronicles the hardships that result from working insecure jobs that provide neither benefits nor the basic tools of the teaching trade.

It is of note that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been active in this arena.  AFT/CFT is not mentioned, but the article was written by an SEIU member.

The SEIU has made adjunct faculty a priority in terms of organization.  They have a specific webpage devoted to adjunct faculty.

On the Compton campus, adjuncts are allowed to join the union, and we have a Part-Time Union Representative on our E-Board.  Although adjuncts have representation on our campus, the plight of other adjuncts on other campuses is disturbing.  California has various laws that try to curtail the heavy reliance on adjunct faculty, many of the colleges attempt to circumvent the law, or they outright violate the law.