Part-time faculty who teach at the University of Vermont (UVM) are following the good example of their full-time brothers and sisters. In June, the United Academics-University of Vermont, AAUP/AFT filed a petition with the Vermont Labor Relations Board, seeking an election for the unit of roughly 200 part-timers.  The petition, which includes 150 signatures, asks for a vote on whether the part-time faculty wish to be represented by a collective bargaining agent.

Earlier this year, the United Academics, AAUP/AFT, the union representing full-time and non-tenure track faculty at UVM, unanimously ratified its first contract. UA voted for collective bargaining in April 2001, withstanding a prolonged campaign of opposition from the university administration. This time around, although resistance from management is expected, the union hopes it will not be as fierce, says Roy Vestrich, president of United Professions of Vermont/AFT affiliate.

Part-timers are "at the bottom of the pecking order" and their working conditions are "deplorable," says Vestrich. Some do not have offices or office space or phones and they have little to no job security. Many feel disconnected to the university and to other faculty--a situation the union hopes to change with this election.

Shortly after UVM part-timers filed for the election, university spokesman Enrique Corredera was dismissive. "We're of the mind that unions are not necessary," he said.

Part-timers disagree. "The life of a part-time teacher at UVM can be fraught with uncertainty; contracts only last a semester," says Cami Davis, a UVM part-timer who taught eight courses last year--more than a full-time load--with a salary under 30,000 a year.

John Aberth, a fellow part-timer at UVM, does not even have a key to the building in which he teaches--symbolic, he notes, of the adverse conditions that part-time faculty have to endure. "I like to draw the analogy between lords and serfs. We're the serfs and they [the administration] are the lords."

Part-time faculty have other concerns, says Vestrich, including benefits and healthcare, pay equity and, above all, hiring disparities between departments and disciplines. Departments attach their names to contracts, which means that departments and disciplines draw up and set the contract terms.  This allows the university to evade any responsibility for grievances brought forth by claiming that they are not the hiring unit.

The university has 30 days to respond to the union's petition.  UPV hopes the election will take place this fall. [Heather Raiti]
[July 26, 2003]