SFLaborCouncil

San Francisco Labor Council Supports USF Part Time Faculty

On February 25, 2019, the San Francisco Labor Council passed unanimously this resolution supporting USF Part Time Faculty:

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO ADJUNCTS

WHEREAS the San Francisco Labor Council is the local body of the AFL-CIO, chartered in 1893 and representing 150 unions with 100,000 members, and

WHEREAS the SFLC has received information indicating that the University of San Francisco has been unable to reach a successor collective bargaining agreement with the USF Part-time Faculty Association, AFT Local 6590 representing adjunct faculty, and

WHEREAS the adjunct professors at USF are the largest group of unionized employees at the University, and

WHEREAS adjunct professors receive significantly inferior wages and benefits compared to either full-time professors or other University staff employees, including the highest cost health plan, least insurance benefits, lack of flex benefits, no vacation accrual, and require significant outside employment in order to afford a living in the Bay Area, and

WHEREAS adjunct professors must engage with multiple employers in order to create a viable career by working multiple jobs, and

WHEREAS adjunct professors through PTFA have resisted concessions regarding their seniority and class assignments but have bargained in good faith with the University regarding the University’s financial situation, and proposed wages and benefits,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the San Francisco Labor Council supports USF PTFA AFT members in their efforts to secure a successor contract, and calls on the University, a Jesuit educational institution, to follow church doctrine to fulfill the obligation to provide workers wages and benefits sufficient to fulfill their material, social and spiritual needs.

AND FURTHER CALLS ON THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO to respect the adjunct professors’ needs for predictability in teaching assignments and scheduling, enabling them to assist the University with this type of flexible employment. The successor agreement should provide equity BOTH for the University’s benefit and also so that adjunct professors may make a living.