Announcements & News
See recent updates and news on the USF-PTFA on Facebook
and on the PTFA Members' Site on Canvas
PTFA Charges Filed With the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Against USF Management 2019: See Details
October 2019:
PTFA Files Unfair Labor Practices Charges with NLRB Against USF for Discrimination - Retaliation - Censorship.
SIGN THE PETITION (petition now closed)
September 2019:
PTFA Re-files charges against USF Management with NLRB: Retaliation
August 2019:
USF Management Reneges on Agreement to Discuss NLRB Issues with PTFA
April 2019:
March 2019: Resolution for USF Media Studies to Reinstate Participation Rights of Part Time Faculty
February 2019:
Contract Negotiations update
Sign the Petition: And more of what YOU can do to help USF Part Time Faculty Get a Fair Contract! (petition now closed)
PTFA Files Unfair Labor Practices Charges with NLRB Against USF (Feb 2019)
Read "Adjunct Stories" -- and tell your own!
[archived]
Election Results
Results of the Policy Board April 2016 election (2 year terms):
Officers: President: John Higgins; Vice-president: Sue Bae; Secretary: Rebecca Seeman; Treasurer: Robert Bathrick;
Representatives: At-large: Michael Ed Lenert; A&S: Shawn Colleen Doubiago, Laurel Scotland-Stewart, Ellen Thompson; SOE: Onllwyn C. Dixon; SON: Nate Hinerman; SOM: Bradley Morrison
Constitution and By-Laws approved
On 3/31/2016, the new Constitution and By-Laws (C&BL) was ratified by 96% of the voting 101 members (15.54% of the 650 eligible voters. YES: 97. NO: 4.
Resolution RE: CFA Strike 2016
Resolution approved by the Policy Boards of the USFFA-PT and the USFFA-FT, 3/23/2016:
BE IT RESOLVED THAT
…the University of San Francisco Faculty Association - Full Time unit, AFT/CFT Local 4269, and the USF Faculty Association - Part Time unit, AFT/CFT Local 4269a, hereby support the California Faculty Association in its plans for a system wide strike on April 13-15 and 18-19.
We support the CFA as it presses hard to ensure the professional working conditions and reasonable learning conditions that are essential for quality education.
And be it further resolved that, although employees represented by the USFFA and USFFA-PT are prevented by contract from engaging in a sympathy strike, we share a collective bond with CFA because we are all California university teachers committed to both maintaining high standards of university education and strong, effective unions. We recognize that these benefit our students' needs for a quality university education. Therefore, be it finally resolved that we stand together to protect the bargaining process and to support our sisters and brothers in CFA.
Renegotiated Contract Ratified, 10/12/15
We are pleased to announce that the renegotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement has been ratified by a vote of 84% in favor, 16% opposed. The final tally was 42 in favor, 8 opposed.
The salary increases will be retroactive. Payroll has indicated that the retroactive amounts may appear on your paycheck in November and/or December. They will try to include the actual pay increase on your October check, but if they cannot get it out for the 26th, both September and October will appear in the later paychecks.
Much thanks to so many of you who responded to the negotiation survey and for the many requests and recommendations that many of you made as well. While not all the proposals that we presented to the University were agreed on, we feel that the negotiations have produced further advances in salary, benefits, and working conditions to a contract that we have developed over 30 years guided by mutual respect, mutual trust, and mutual interest with the Administration.
The USF Faculty Association, Part-time Bargaining Team
Jake McGoldrick, President and Chief Negotiator
Lynn Perkins, Vice-President
Lily MacKenzie, Vice-President
John Higgins, Policy Board, Arts and Sciences
John Green, Policy Board, School of Management
Also assisted by
Rick Roberts, Policy Board, Arts and Sciences
Rebecca Seaman, Policy Board, Arts and Sciences
Mary Coombs, Policy Board, Education
Annual Awards Dinner, 5/5/15
The University of San Francisco and the USF Adjunct Faculty Association (USFFA-PT) recognized the following awardees at our annual awards dinner for the 2014-2015 Distinguished Adjunct Teaching Awards:
Lou Lucaccini - School of Management
John Stover - Arts & Sciences
Matthew Gaudet - Arts & Sciences
Susan Penner - School of Nursing
Additionally, the USF Adjunct Faculty Association recognized the following awardees:
Dave Griffis, School of Management, for the Sr. Vicky Siu Award for Outstanding Contributions and Service to the University of San Francisco 2014-2015
Nancy Feehan, School of Education, for the Innovations in Instruction Award 2014-2015.
You'll find a video of the event and presentations to awardees at the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ytk6rox7g9oawi9/20150505_190348.mp4?dl=0
Organizing Private Bay Area Colleges 12/29/14
Check out the following interview with three SF Bay Area adjunct writing teachers. They talk about adjunction and organizing at private Bay Area colleges:
Gonzaga U Adjunct Faculty are Organizing 11/4/2014
The part-time faculty at our sister Jesuit university, Gonzaga U in Washington State, are working to unionize:
http://www.gonzagabulletin.com/news/article_6f38ffaa-4f50-11e4-8fb7-0017a43b2370.html
Evaluation Instruments 10/23/2014
A recording of Philip Stark's (see his bio below) presentation about the value and validity of quantitative evaluation instruments used in post-secondary education. His talk will help adjuncts to understand how faculty and administrators develop criteria for interpreting these evaluations.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i880tlfho8xovpp/Philip%20Stark%2010.23.14.mp3?dl=0
Professor Stark’s bio:
Philip B. Stark is Professor and Chair of the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. His research centers on uncertainty quantification in physical, social, and life sciences. He was a Presidential Young Investigator and he won the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Award for Research in the Public Interest. He has consulted for major corporations and for many branches of government, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Census Bureau. He has testified to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the State of California Senate and Assembly. His CV is available at www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/bio.ht
Updates: 10/16/2014
The Union Plus website lists several discounts and services that are available to unionized workers, including discounts for travel, AT&T wireless, health benefits, and more:
The American Federation of Teachers website, our sponsoring union, lists several scholarships that are available to USF adjuncts, including lucrative college scholarships for children of AFT members:
http://aft.org/benefits/scholarships/
On Oct 16, Joe Berry of COCAL posted some information pertinent to us and our sister schools.
Part-time faculty at Gonzaga, our sister Jesuit university in Washington State, are currently working to unionize:
http://www.gonzagabulletin.com/news/article_6f38ffaa-4f50-11e4-8fb7-0017a43b2370.html
Here's a Huffington Post article on Adjuncts:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/11/adjunct-faculty_n_4255139.html
The journal Working USA is currently working on an issue on Adjunct labor, with a submission deadline of November 15.
Updates: 9/24/2014
COCAL XI: In August 2014, Rebecca Seeman and Mel Ciena from the PTFA Policy Board attended COCAL's 11th conference in NYC (for more on COCAL, see Apr 29 2014 entry below). In three days of intensive meetings, we discussed various issues concerning the conditions of part-time and contingent faculty throughout North America. Contracts and conditions for part-time faculty vary widely across the continent, from excellent conditions in some Canadian universities to very poor conditions in Mexico. We at USF can thank the PTF bargaining committee past and present for having secured a strong contract at USF, especially among private universities. With so much national media attention currently being given to the part-time faculty situation, this is an excellent time to work for even better conditions at USF.
Some take away thoughts from COCAL XI:
• We are exploring ways we can increase visibility and connections both at USF and in the national and international community of part-time faculty groups. Some possibilities are as follows:
- create a Facebook page
- participate in Campus Equity Week in Fall 2015. CEQ is an action week focussed on professional equity on university campuses organized by the New Faculty Majority, a wing of COCAL. NFM's director is Craig Flanery, a professor in the East. Bay. I'll be posting more here about CEW in the coming months. Stay tuned for how you can be involved!
- work with media to increase visibility in the community.
http://www.campusequityweek.org/2013/
• It is important to support other faculty in similar situations. A group of Catholic University adjunct professors was formed at COCAL to support part-time faculty at Catholic universities that have been denied the right to unionize based on religious exemption. To people at USF, where social justice is such a critical issue, this rings very wrong.
Rebecca and Mel at COCAL
Updates: 4/29/2014
All of our adjunct faculty at USF should be aware of COCAL: Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor
COCAL is a grassroots coalition of activists in North America working for contingent faculty: adjunct, part-time, non-tenured, and graduate teaching faculty. We seek to bring greater awareness to the precarious situation for contingent faculty in higher education, organize for action, and build solidarity among our colleagues.
Their website contains a great deal of information about contingent faculty events and issues, far too much to post here. We'll post information that is relevant to San Francisco adjunct faculty, but you are encouraged to check out their website for more details:
Representatives from USF's adjunct faculty will be attending COCAL's conference in NYC this coming August. We'll be excited to report what we learn there!
USFFA-PT video
The USF Faculty Association - Part Time Policy Board has created a video that features interviews with USF adjuncts. It’s a way to capture some of our experiences as part-timers and to help others understand the disparity between full and part-time faculty. Here is the direct link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xYbz49K-gg
Updates: 9/28/2014
An article announcing a partnership between the American Federation for Teachers' and the Freelancers Union to offer access to benefits to contingent faculty appeared in Inside Higher Ed this July. Go here to read more: