Transforming Higher Education

Movement Milestones and Victories

We’re working to improve learning and teaching conditions and access to higher education, while standing up to end the trend toward a low-road, corporate-business model for education. More than 50,000 faculty and graduate workers are already united through SEIU Faculty Forward. Every day more educators, students and community members across the country are joining our fight to transform higher education. Here’s a look at what we’ve accomplished together so far.

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Nazareth College Adjunct Faculty Vote Overwhelmingly to Ratify First Union Contract

Part-time non-tenure-track faculty at Nazareth College voted overwhelmingly to ratify their first union contract on Tuesday and Wednesday. The collective bargaining agreement makes significant improvements to the conditions of adjunct faculty through wage increases amounting to nearly 50 percent for the majority of adjuncts, longer term appointments which allow for increased student continuity, professional development funding, course cancellation fees, and further inclusion in the academic community through allowances for participation in departmental and college wide affairs.

“This agreement will alleviate the anxiety of adjuncts like myself who semester to semester have not been sure if we will have a contract to continue working at the college, said Colleen Wolf, Nazareth School of Music adjunct faculty and union bargaining committee member. “Having longer contracts and better pay will allow us to plan for our futures and our families’ futures. This agreement also lets us better serve our students, the increased stability it will provide will allow us to be more available for them and provide further consistency for the student body.”

The contract comes nearly a year and a half after Nazareth adjunct faculty formed their union with SEIU Local 200United / Faculty Forward in June 2018, and follows a wave of over three thousand adjunct and contingent faculty unionizing with SEIU Local 200United at twelve universities across New York State and Vermont since 2014.

Read more: WXXI News.