Pictured Above: The temporary, part-time teachers campaigned for a union under the banner of Faculty Forward.
Courtesy of Faculty Forward
By Nancy McCann
Adjunct faculty on the three USF campuses have accepted their first union contract.
The vote, which was tallied today, was 79 for and 7 against the contract.
There were 789 eligible voters.
This achievement capped a three-year effort by the adjuncts to improve their job security, working conditions, pay and benefits.
“I am thrilled,” wrote Dana Corrigan, an adjunct who teaches animation at USF Tampa, in an email to The Crow’s Nest. “This is a huge achievement for our union, for our adjuncts and for adjuncts all across Florida and the United States . . . However, this is just another (albeit huge) step, rather than the finish line.”
Corrigan, a leader in the union efforts, also teaches at the University of Tampa.
They started their campaign in the spring of 2017 under the name Faculty Forward and soon encountered fierce opposition from the administration of then-USF President Judy Genshaft.
Despite several attempts by university leaders on the Tampa and St. Petersburg campuses to derail their efforts, the adjuncts won the right to form a union in 2018.
Representatives of the Florida Public Services Union of the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU-FPSU, said no conclusions can be drawn at this time about the small percentage of adjuncts who voted on the contract.
“Right now, in the time of COVID, we’ve got a very uncertain situation,” said Aaron Dietrich, the union’s communications coordinator. “It’s been real difficult. This is one of the first three or four digital ratifications that have been done in the state.”
Although the university classifies adjuncts as “temporary” employees, in fall 2019 they made up 46.2 percent of the faculty at the St. Petersburg campus (excluding graduate assistants who teach) and taught 26.6 percent of the undergraduate credit hours, according to information provided to The Crow’s Nest by USF’s Office of Decision Support.
“This contract is foundational to adjuncts working together with administration, and improving our professional relationships,” wrote Greg McCreery, an adjunct who has taught on the St. Petersburg and Tampa campuses.
McCreery, a leader in the union efforts since the beginning, has a message for adjuncts who are “not yet” union members:
“Now is the time to join” to improve upon “this great achievement.”
Previous coverage of the adjuncts’ contract can be found here and here.
Editor’s Note
This article was edited August 15, 2020, to provide comment from Greg McCreery, Aaron Dietrich and Dana Corrigan.
