The current Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire on June 30, 2024

Dear All Adjunct Faculty at PACE:

 

The Union’s Executive Committee is addressing all adjunct faculty, both UAFP members and those professors and instructors who have not yet become members.  We are all covered under one contract.

 

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire on June 30, 2024.  The Executive Board is aware of the terms of recently negotiated settlements at Fordham University, Rutgers University, NYU, CUNY, and New School and is preparing tentative proposals for our upcoming negotiations.
For purposes of comparison:

 

The Fordham package provides:

  • $7,950 per course for Instructor/Lecturer with 0 to 3 years of service
  • $8,350 per course for Instructor/Lecturer with 4+ years of service
  • $8,950 per course for Instructor/Lecturer with 7+ years of service
  • Deposit into an individual faculty member’s flexible spending account:
    • 1 course $300.00
    • 2 courses $400.00
    • 3 courses $500.00
    • 4 courses $500.00
  • $25,000 for professional development reimbursement account (unused funds to rollover to the next year)

The Rutgers package provides:

Information on the Rutgers’ adjunct pay scale has been difficult to obtain, but estimated total pay for a part-time Lecturer is in the range of $44,000 to $77,000 with a median pay of $60,131 per year.

 

The NYU package provides:

NYU pays on an hourly basis.

  • Hourly rate $206.99
  • 45 contract hours $9,314.55
  • Tutoring and other academic
  • Duties, including training $67.28/hr.
  • 6% retirement contribution after 3 years of service
  • Health insurance – available at 50-100% subsidy
  • $1,500 longevity bonus for each 5 years of service
  • $1,552.50 administrative pay per each 3 credit course
  • $200,000 annual deposit into professional development fund (unused funds to rollover to next year)
  • $1,968.54 for credit course development, $664.80 for non-credit course development

 

The CUNY package:

  • 3 credit course
    • $5,500 Instructor/Lecturer
    • $6,000 Assistant Professor
    • $6,500 Associate Professor
    • $6,750 Professor
  • Office Hours
    • 3 to 5.9 credits 1/3 of credit course rate
    • 6 – 8.9 credits   2/3 of 3 credit course rate
    • 9 credits 100% of 3 credit course rate
  • Health Insurance for 6 credits after 1 year
  • $1,375.01 per adjunct to Welfare Fund for each adjunct covered by NYC Health Insurance
  • $660,000 annual deposit for reimbursement to professional meetings and conferences (unused funds to rollover) $3,000 per adjunct per year
  • One course per semester tuition remission for adjunct after 5 years of service

The CUNY compensation package, while higher than that provided by Pace, is lower than Fordham, Rutgers, and the New School as the CUNY contract was entered into several years ago and will be re-negotiated in year 2024.

 

The New School package:

  • $6,345 per 3 credit course
  • $141 per hour
  • 15% post appointment course cancellation pay for probationary adjunct
  • 30% wage replacement for baseload reduction
  • 4 paid faculty meetings per year
  • $6/hr. longevity increase for 10 years +
  • $100,000 annual deposit for professional development (unused fund carried over)

 

In order for you to have a full picture and fully appreciate the economics of the situation, below is  the current PACE package:

  • $3,630 per 3 credit course Instructor and Lecturer ($1,210 per credit)
  • $3,930 per 3 credit course Asst. Professor ($1,310 per credit)
  • $4,230 per 3 credit course Assoc. Professor ($1,410 per credit)
  • $4,830 per 3 credit course Professor ($1,610 per credit)
  • $45.00 per hour training/$500 one-week online training|
  • Longevity
    $100 per credit-20 years of service
    $150/$75 per credit-25 years of service
    $100 per credit-35 years of service
  • $300 conference reimbursement (non-contractual)
  • Tuition Remission benefit

The Union Executive Board believes that Fordham University is the most relevant comparison.  Fordham.  Fordham is similar to Pace.  Both are a private university, both have two campuses (Pace-NYC and Pleasantville) (Fordham-Bronx and Lincoln Center), both have a similar percentage of adjunct professors to full professors (PACE- 63%) (Fordham (58%) both have comparable undergraduate student body (Pace-8,300) (Fordham- approx. 9,000), both have comparative tuition (Pace $72,00.00) (Fordham $78,000), and both have the adjunct faculties being covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
Fordham is compensating its adjunct professor at over 100% the level of compensation paid by Pace.

 

You can readily see that PACE, on any competitive analysis, is under-compensating its Adjunct Faculty members.

 

The negotiations of the above universities were contentious and significant battles, each of which were won by the adjunct professors as they stood together.  The New School adjunct professors were able to obtain substantial increases, that is 38% over three (3) years only after a three (3) week strike.  Rutgers University, its adjunct faculty and full-time faculty, were able to obtain very substantial increases, 43.8% over four (4) years, only after their membership went on a five (5) day strike.  Fordham, CUNY and NYU were able to settle without a strike.  Your Union, the Union of Adjunct Faculty at PACE, while hopeful that a negotiated agreement will be reached, wants each of you to be preparing for strike activity if such action becomes necessary.

 

As a member of the Union of Adjunct Faculty at Pace, you have strength in unity and in numbers.  At Pace, there are currently 822 Adjunct Professors and only 479 full-time Professors. Thus the ratio 63% Adjunct Professors to 37% full-time Professors.  The National average percentage of full-time faculty is 51.4%.  It is the Adjunct Professors that are the teaching core of Pace University.  Predominantly due to the lower compensation, PACE has a higher turnover of adjunct faculty and was required to hire 221 new Adjunct Faculty for the Fall 2022 - Spring 2023 semesters, for a turnover rate of 23.8%.  Turnover places a strain on the various Department Chairs and existing adjunct faculty.   The Adjunct Faculty predominantly teaches the 1 and 2nd year students. Thus, providing for and maintaining an experienced Adjunct Faculty is critical providing experienced educators to reducing the drop-out rate and  growing the retention rate  of four year students.

 

The adjunct faculty voted to decertify the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and to select the UAFP as the bargaining representative.  NYSUT was voted out due in part to the initial collective bargaining agreement (that we continue to be saddled with) being substantially inadequate economically.  Also, in traditional labor relations, arbitration is expected to involve a final and binding decision to be made by a neutral arbitrator.  As a demonstration of NYSUT’s weakness, NYSUT agreed to a contract arbitration provision that does not provide for a neutral arbitrator to make the final decision, but rather empowers the University President to make the final decision.   NYSUT was poorly equipped to negotiate with PACE as NYSUT is generally a public sector union which does not have the lawful right to strike and, thus does not appreciate the economic power that comes with strike activity.  For that very reason, NYSUT does not maintain a strike fund for its members’ support.

 

With the certification of UAFP and disaffiliation from NYSUT, there was no longer any diversion of dues money to the NYSUT per capita for that Union’s state-wide and regional organization and other non-representation activities.  The dues per capita money that would have gone to NYSUT general treasury has been directed by the UAFP into a strike benefit fund.   This fund now has substantial funding in order to support the membership in its bargaining, and most importantly, to provide a stipend benefit to members if a strike becomes necessary.

 

UAFP is currently in the process of preparing bargaining proposals and is considering a bargaining posture of no contract-no work. If University management chooses to drag out negotiations and fails to negotiate parity of economics with other neighbor Universities such as Fordham, a job action and strike may be required to apply the needed pressure to obtain such economic parity.

 

If you are not yet a member of UAFP, you are encouraged to go to the UAFP website and complete your membership application.  Notably, whether a member or not, as obligated by the contract, you are currently paying union dues. Joining membership does not increase your dues obligation.  By completing your membership application, you will be able to participate and provide input in developing contract negotiation proposals, you will receive updated communications regarding negotiations, have a right to vote to ratify or reject the tentative contract final offer, and will enjoy strike benefits in the event that there is a strike. If you choose not to become a member, which is of course your right, you will be out of the information loop, will not have the right to vote on the tentative contract final offer, and will not have the right to receive strike benefits.

 

We are hopeful that you will become a member of the UAFP, especially during these times where there is truly strength in numbers. We look forward to working with you.  Please visit UAFP.net for more information and for the membership form.

 

Fraternally,

William Quinlan, President
Barry Bullis, Vice President
Beth Roberts, Secretary Glenn Martin Miller, Esq., Financial Officer

 

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