Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

University of South Florida Adjuncts File for Union Election

  • 04/21/17

TAMPA, FL – Non-tenure track, part-time faculty at the University of South Florida (USF) announced recently that they filed for a union election to join the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) as part of the national Faculty Forward campaign (seiufacultyforward.org) to raise standards in higher education.

"We're forming a union so we can earn a living wage at the jobs we love," says Jeanette Abrahamsen, an adjunct who teaches Mass Communications. "When we invest in each other the way we invest in our students, we'll create an environment where qualified teachers can keep their jobs and earn what we deserve."

USF contingent faculty continue to build support while taking an important step toward voting to join colleagues at Hillsborough Community College, who voted overwhelmingly to form a union last November. Adjuncts at the University of Chicago, Tufts, Georgetown and dozens of other universities have joined SEIU in the past three years. More than a quarter of USF's faculty members are part-time, contingent faculty, up from 16 percent in 2010.

"I want a union because I believe in fairness and justice," says Patty McCabe-Remmell, an adjunct who teaches professional and technical writing. "We are, after all, professionals. Pay and benefit parity would be a nice way to recognize that," she says, noting that graduate assistants and tenure-track faculty at USF, who are represented by unions, receive healthcare benefits.

Momentum is building. Together, faculty from more than 50 schools, coast to coast, are building support to form their union with SEIU, and creating a movement to address the crisis in higher education and the declining working standards that leave both students and faculty behind.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is home to more than 120,000 faculty, graduate student employees and other campus workers who believe in the power of joining together on the job to win higher wages and benefits and to create better communities by fighting for a more just society and an economy that works for all of us, not just corporations and the wealthy.

Featured

  • Rhode Island Boarding School Completes Student Dorm Renovations

    St. George’s School in Middletown, R.I., recently announced the completion of a $26-million renovation project on Arden-Diman-Eccles Dormitory, according to a news release. The school partnered with Voith & Mactavish Architects (VMA) on the new space, which places a new focus on collaborative community spaces open to both boarding students and day students.

  • CU-Lock Haven Receives $1.75M Gift for New Entrepreneurship, Media Center

    Commonwealth University-Lock Haven in Lock Haven, Penn., recently received a $1.75-million donation from entrepreneur and alumnus Nicholas Subich ’17, according to a university news release. The funds will go toward establishing the Nicholas Subich Center for Entrepreneurship and Media, a technology-driven hub for innovation and experiential learning.

  • Stanford Completes Construction on Graduate School of Education Facility

    Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., recently announced the end of construction on a new home for its Graduate School of Education, according to a news release. The university partnered with McCarthy Building Companies on the 160,000-square-foot project, which involved two major renovations and one new construction effort.

  • UT System Approves First Funds for New Campus

    The University of Texas System Board of Regents recently approved funds to build the first facility of a new campus in far west Fort Worth, Texas, according to university news. UTA West will serve as a branch of the University of Texas at Arlington and is scheduled to open in fall 2028.