Administration halts adjunct negotiations

02/03/09 - The University of Rhode Island's chapter of the American Association of University Professors part-time faculty union plans to organize a demonstration within two weeks if contract negotiations among the university's administration fail to resume.According to Dorothy Donnelly, a full-time URI English professor and URI AAUP chapter president, the university administration discontinued contract negotiations in November and has "refused to resume." The negotiations began May 5, 2008.

"We have tried to contact administration and they have given us excuses," Donnelly said. "In my opinion they are deliberate stalling tactics."

URI Vice Provost Clifford Katz said negotiations have halted and a mediation process has taken place. He said the administration is trying to schedule dates to begin mediation discussions.

URI President Robert L. Carothers said mediations began yesterday morning at the URI College of Continuing Education in Providence and continued throughout the day.

According to Carothers, before negotiations can resume the mediation process must define exactly who is considered part-time faculty and if the bargaining unit covers them. "This is a fundamental question which is keeping this from going forward," Carothers said. "We are stuck in the most preliminary stage and can't get past this."

He said that only when the mediation is over would the university be able to assess how much the PTFU's proposals will cost.

"There's no mystery who is covered," Donnelly said. "We want more [part-time faculty] covered and they want less. That's the issue."

Vice President for Administration and Finance, Robert Weygand said the university is focusing all its efforts on mediation at this time.

University officials declined to comment on why negotiations were discontinued and what exactly was discussed in the recent mediation process.

"It has always been our policy to not discuss negotiations with the public," Weygand said.

Anne Marie Coleman, assistant vice president of human resources administration and chief negotiator on behalf of the administration was unavailable for comment.

Katz said, "The reason the university has not agreed to their proposals is that their proposals, in terms of salary and benefits, are somewhere in the neighborhood of $14 million or $15 million and this is something that the University has not agreed to do."

Donnelly said that those figures are not accurate and are closer to $5 million.

According to Donnelly the PTFU has filed three unfair labor practice charges with the Rhode Island State Labor Relations Board against the university for violations of the Rhode Island Labor Law. The charges included establishing a workload policy outside of the negotiation process, the university's refusal to produce statistics, and data. In addition, the length of time that individual faculty members have taught at URI and how many courses they have taught, the university's refusal to discuss negotiable items, and restricting the PTFU to teaching two courses per semester are also charges. Donnelly said the workload policy is also on the table in the negotiation process.

Carothers said the course restriction was implemented because benefits would have to be issued to professors who taught more than two courses per semester. This would obscure the definition of part-time faculty.

The PTFU is demanding equitable salary, benefits, seniority rights and job security because the university is not contractually obligated to rehire part-time faculty. According to Donnelly, agreements have been reached regarding non-monetary issues such as access to workspace and grievance procedure methods.

The labor board certified the PTFU in 2007. The PTFU is now attempting to establish its first union contract. Donnelly said she is not surprised the process has taken more than a year to establish an initial contract. According to Donnelly, the PTFU feels it need a contract to protect its interests and issues. The URI full-time faculty and graduate assistants both have contracts.

Donnelly said many full-time faculty members have expressed their support for the PTFU's bid for a contract. She said the URI Faculty Senate passed a resolution in support of the PTFU's efforts in November.

"We're not in competition with full-time faculty in terms of salary," Donnelly said.

Donnelly, who has been a URI professor for 25 years, said part-time faculty members approached her three years ago asking her to assist them in forming a union.

"I readily agreed," Donnelly said. "I've been active in the faculty union and they knew I had the experience they needed and a commitment to make things right for the part-time faculty."

Part-time faculty member Barbara Silliman, who has taught English at URI for 14 years, said she is forced to work at three different colleges in order to make a reasonable salary, but wants to remain at URI. "I have an emotional attachment to this faculty, Silliman said. I just want my fair share. The work I put in is the same." She said rescheduling classes is sometimes impossible for her because she has obligations at other campuses.

Silliman also said that the university is aware that some PTFU members teach at other schools. She said she is willing to demonstrate if negotiations do not resume soon. "I think we need to bring the truth out to everyone," Silliman said. "We've been a poorly kept secret for too long."

According to Cigar archives, the university employs about 500 per-course instructors. Those on the Kingston Campus are paid $3,200 per class and $3,548 per class taught at CCE. Due to the workload cap, they may teach no more than two courses per semester making their maximum salary per school year approximately $14,000.