American University Adjuncts Vote to Join Union

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)In response to growing inequality on campus including near-poverty wages with no benefits, adjunct faculty at American University (AU) have voted to join SEIU Local 500. More than 1,000 adjuncts will now have a collective voice with the union. “This is a major step in reforming higher education, not just at American University but across the country,” said Mark Plane, an adjunct in the AU anthropology department. Adjunct faculty make up more than half of all college teachers nationally and most work part time for very low wages with no benefits, job security, administrative support or academic rights. At AU, an adjunct with a Ph.D. teaching three classes a semester could make as little as $18,000 a year, according to SEIU 500. “It can be a real struggle to get by,” said Plane. AU is the third university in the Washington, DC metro area to vote to form an adjunct faculty union. SEIU Local 500 also represents adjunct faculty at George Washington University and Montgomery College.