When Are Teachers Auto Workers? When They Are N.Y.U. Adjuncts

The United Auto Workers defeated the American Federation of Teachers in an election to represent part-time adjunct professors at New York University, according to a vote tabulated in mid-July by the National Labor Relations Board.

Of 1,697 ballots cast, 827 were for the U.A.W. and 688 for the A.F.T. Another 101 ballots were declared void, and 81 were challenged.

The N.Y.U. adjuncts voted to unionize in June, but since neither of the two unions received a majority of the votes, a runoff was set. About 3,000 adjuncts were eligible to vote, and U.A.W. officials expect another 1,000 adjuncts to be added to the bargaining unit when summer instructors are included.

Julie Kushner, the U.A.W.’s subregional director for the New York area, said yesterday that she hoped to begin negotiating quickly.

“Now we can get to the bargaining table,” she said. “It’s been a long haul. I don’t think anyone ever believed that adjunct faculty could organize themselves like this.”

Adjuncts have been seen as a particularly difficult group to organize because they spend so little time on campus. The U.A.W., which has expanded its representation of white-collar workers in recent years, already represents graduate-student assistants at N.Y.U. The A.F.T. represents clerical workers there.

Ms. Kushner said that pay and benefits would be central issues. Typically, adjuncts are paid about $2,500 for each course they teach, and receive no pension or health benefits.

But Ms. Kushner said that the union also hoped to improve the quality of education by increasing adjuncts’ ability to meet with students and be reached electronically.

The U.A.W. has already filed an unfair labor practice complaint against N.Y.U. over its plan to cut the number of adjuncts teaching at its American Language Institute. About 45 adjuncts work at the Institute, teaching English to non-native English speakers.

N.Y.U. announced in May that it planned to substitute full-time instructors for many of the part-time teachers. John Beckman, an N.Y.U. spokesman, said yesterday that the university anticipated that the program would employ 13 full-time instructors and 18 adjunct faculty members this fall.

“The judgment was made based on our belief that academically it was the appropriate thing to do,” Mr. Beckman said.

But Ms. Kushner said the union believed N.Y.U. could not act unilaterally. “We believe they are prohibited from doing that at this time,” she said. “If they want to make that change, they have to discuss it with us. We hope the university will sit down and resolve that with us immediately.”