Exploiting Our Lecturers
The attached message from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) Budget Officer, Joe Kieleszewski, illustrates the core unfairness of how Wayne State uses lecturers.1 The employment situation for lecturers invites exploitation. The expansion in the number of lecturers began in the Administration of David Adamany (1983-1997). He cut the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty, and created a situation where lecturers increasingly acquired a greater and greater role in the teaching of students. Lecturers were all on one-year appointments. Annually, they were notified of termination, and then many were rehired one after another on one-year term contracts at the last minute. But, a number were not rehired and often left looking for other more stable employment outside higher education. There were lecturers who survived at the University under this appalling system for decades, getting an annual termination letter, never knowing if they would have a job the following year. It is hard to do the normal things in life, marry, have children, and have a rewarding teaching career that they love. Often lecturers have been manipulated by chairs and other administrators who knew they held the livelihoods of these people in their hands. The Union is currently investigating present cases of unfair manipulation of lecturers by administrators.
Through years of collective bargaining, the Union was able to introduce contract provisions that improved the employment conditions of lecturers and other non-tenure track faculty. We were able to get provisions into the present collective bargaining Agreement (CBA) that, although far from perfect, have helped.
“Under normal circumstances, the initial term appointment for bargaining-unit members appointed as full-time or fractional-time lecturers or senior lecturers shall be for one (1) year or less. Renewal contracts can be for one (1), two (2), or three (3) years and do not require posting. After three (3) years of service as lecturer and/or senior lecturer, a bargaining-unit member’s normal renewal shall be for two (2) or three (3) years. One (1)-year renewals after three (3) years of service require the approval of the Provost.” Article XX.A.8.
An additional provision of the CBA states that: “For lecturers and senior lecturers, written notice of non-renewal shall be sent at least three months prior to the expiration of each appointment.” Article XX.D.2. “… bargaining-unit members on term appointments, other than those on the tenure-track or clinical faculty in the School of Medicine, who have served at WSU for at least seven years, will be given renewal contracts of at least two (2) years.” The second year of this contract may be cancelled, but only for stringent financial reasons and only after the personal approval of the President of the University. Letter of Agreement, January 31, 2013, p. 180 CBA. This situation is hardly ideal, and we intend to put forward proposals that will alter the unfair provisions of the present CBA.
It has been argued by some that the CBA requires the sending of these blanket letters of termination. It is clear that what is obligating this action is not the CBA, but the budgetary imperative of giving a termination letter to those to whom they may not give renewal letters for budgetary reasons. This is acknowledged in the message from the CLAS Budget Officer which states that "CLAS will revert back to the practice that we did several years ago of sending ALL lecturers/visiting Profs that have contracts ending this spring/summer a non-renewal notice by this Friday (2/14/2020)." If they had the discretion to not send these notices in past years, it is clear that the CBA was not requiring it then and does not require it now, unless the actual intent is to terminate the lecturer receiving the notice.
As the annual budget cuts of the University have become more and more institutionalized, the number of lecturers has grown: we now have 190 Lecturers who teach up to four classes each semester. As noted above, we have found a number of cases in which lecturers have had their workload assignments manipulated in an unfair manner.
In order to represent lecturers better, the Union leadership has expanded their representation within it. The organization of lecturers has been formed and its elected leader, Clay Walker, Senior Lecturer in English, was appointed as a member of the Union Executive Committee. He and others will be involved as we develop proposals for the next bargaining round coming in 2021. Clay has written an excellent analysis of the situation of our Lecturers that will be published in the Union’s next Newsbriefs. Everyone who wants to know about the employment conditions under which lecturers work should read this report.
What is clear is that our lecturers are the most exploited group within our bargaining unit. We are committed to improving their situation in the coming negotiations. See the announcement below describing how you can support our lecturers.
In solidarity,
Charlie Parrish
1 Dear Chairs,
CLAS will revert back to the practice that we did several years ago of sending ALL lecturers/visiting Profs that have contracts ending this spring/summer a non-renewal notice by this Friday (2/14/2020). Margaret Scanio in HR Region-A will be sending you the letters for your signature within a day or two. Please return the letters by Wednesday so that our office can mail them out to the individuals. Lastly, while we will try to give you a current list of lecturers/visiting profs that have on file with contracts ending this spring/summer, it’s ultimately the department’s responsibility to ensure nobody is missed in this process. If we did miss someone, please notify Margaret Scanio via an email.
Requests to renew any lecturers/visiting profs that are receiving a non-renewal will be considered when the college has your budget meeting this spring and once we know what our college’s budget cut will be for FY 20-21 (currently the University Administration is asking CLAS to prepare for a $1.8M reduction which was the same amount as last year).
Thank you for your cooperation and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
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Support Fairness For Lecturers!! We need you!!
On Wednesday, February 26th at 11:45am -- All Lecturers and their supporters are invited to join in a protest of the decision by the Administration to issue mass non-renewal letters to approximately 25% of the lecturers in CLAS and other colleges.
Losing anyone is devastating, let alone valuable teachers.
Can you to be there?!
- Gather in the Student Center Building Room 384 at 11:45 AM (11:15 sign making)
- Step off at Noon for a short walk and protest event
- Look forward to being finishing by 12:30 PM
Your support is crucial. Lecturers need your support!!!
RSVP not necessary but helpful. mdilley@aaupaft.org
Please also sign the petition of support at http://AAUPAFT.org/
