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Contingent Faculty to Be Paid for Work Outside Class
Some contingent faculty at the City University of New York will be partially compensated for the time they spend working outside the classroom under the terms of a contract approved over the summer. The Professional Staff Congress (PSC) of CUNY, an affiliate of the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers, negotiated the contract, which stipulates that, starting September 1, adjuncts who teach six or more classroom hours (two three-credit courses) at the same college will be paid for one additional hour each week in order to engage in activities related to their academic responsibilities, such as office hours and professional development. The hourly wages received by contingent faculty vary depending on rank and years of service, but many faculty earn in the $50 to $60 range, says PSC treasurer John Hyland. Over the course of a fifteen-week semester, a contingent faculty member earning $60 an hour would receive an additional $900.
“This is just the beginning in terms of higher education’s recognizing and responding to the restructuring of the labor force that has been going on as adjuncts teach a higher percentage of classes,” says Hyland, a member of the bargaining team. “We really had to be persistent to gain this provision, and it’s an issue that we plan to return to in future contract negotiations.” The PSC represents both tenure-track and contingent faculty at CUNY.
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