The faculty and staff of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia (UArts) came together for joint action on Monday, April 24. The two groups negotiate their first collective agreements.
The faculty voted to join the United Academics of Philadelphia 9608 (part of the larger American Federation of Teachers) in November 2020. They began negotiating in March 2021, but more than two years later, health care and wages remain unsettled. The union filed five charges of unfair labor practices against the university during the long negotiation process.
The bargaining unit fluctuates between approximately 150 and 250 teachers, depending on the semester. Some 85% of UArts faculty are part-time.
These part-time faculty earn an average of $1,000 per credit and $3,000 for a three-credit course, but the union says some earn as little as $677 per credit. (United Academics of Philadelphia calculated the city average at $1,566 per credit.) Importantly for the union, part-time UArts faculty do not receive health care.
The 33 full-time faculty members earn an average of $59,000 per year and a minimum of $51,000.
“We are fighting for a living salary in line with comparable schools, multi-year job security rather than semester-by-semester hiring, and for the university to cover the cost of health care for its teachers” , said Bradley Philbert, an assistant. associate professor at the School of Critical Studies who is part of the negotiation team.
The administration presented its economic offer in November, which included 5% increases for all professors over the next five years and restoring the 2:1 superannuation for full-time professors over the next four coming years.
Philbert said Hyperallergic that he take classes at other schools in order to earn the same salary as his full-time counterparts. He currently teaches additional courses at Penn State and Rowan University in New Jersey.
Philbert sees his situation as indicative of a larger problem in American universities.
“Long-time assistants often joke about full-time job offers that always hang like a carrot from various programs — a full-time speaking role here, the hint of a multi-year contract there,” did he declare. “It’s all part of higher education moving towards a majority part-time workforce, even if well-meaning middle managers think they’ll finally be the ones able to deliver.”
Laura Frazure, a former student who is now a full-time teacher, said Hyperallergic the school’s reliance on part-time teachers seems “unsustainable”.
“It puts immense pressure and responsibility on other full-time employees in terms of governance, curriculum development and student advocacy,” Frazure explained, adding that it takes professors away from their studios and their research and offloads responsibility onto other part-time teachers. , Also. “Students suffer when there aren’t enough full-time faculty to support their efforts.”
As faculty deal with the problems of a majority part-time faculty, the UArts staff union says their members face high staff turnover.
The union has about 120 members. Workers organized in 2022 with the same United Academics of Philadelphia 9608.
According to the union, these workers sometimes earn as little as $15 an hour (Philadelphia’s minimum wage is tied to the state rate of $7.25).
A UArts spokesperson said Hyperallergic that the school remains committed to negotiating fair contracts with its faculty and staff unions and that it is “working diligently towards a contract that meets the needs of all parties” and “agrees that negotiations with the negotiations of the teachers’ union unfortunately took a long time”.
“We continue to reach agreement in principle on a host of issues, and the university hopes that these important negotiations can soon be concluded,” the spokesperson said.
While museum workers across the country have organized in recent years, the ongoing labor movement has also had a significant impact on higher education. Student workers at Temple University in Philadelphia continued to hit for over a month earlier this year; faculty at Rutgers University of New Jersey continued to hit for a week earlier this month; and nontenured professors at New York University are forming a union.
As faculty and staff organize on campuses across the country, UArts workers have noticed how their union organizing has brought them together.
“We all want job security and sustainable working conditions, and that means we have the valuable chance to share ideas, speak out about our ideas as union members and maintain the solidarity essential to building strong unions,” said Philbert. “We cannot have this solidarity without fighting to build it, which means that when we speak as workers, we speak with one voice as a strong and united community of arts educators.”
