500 American University Part-Timers Consider Joining SEIU

by Chris Lewis Starting today, adjunct faculty at American University will begin voting on whether or not to join the Service Employees International Union. Supporters say collective bargaining can help improve pay and job security for adjuncts, the academic world’s version of migrant labor. Non-tenure-track faculty are generally paid much less than their tenured counterparts ($3,000-$4,000 per course at American, according to union advocates; the average salary at the school is $70,626 for an assistant professor and $150,025 for a full professor). “We’re over 40 percent of the faculty at AU, but we essentially get four percent of the salary […]