CA
On April 2, the Palomar Faculty Federation/AFT signed off on a three-year agreement that provides raises and other improved benefits for Palomar College's 300 full-time and 800 part-time faculty—a group that also includes noninstructional faculty such as librarians, counselors and coaches.

The settlement provides salary improvements for all full- and part-timers, says PFF co-president Shannon Lienhart: a retroactive raise of 7.5 percent for 2006-07; a 4.53 percent raise, plus any growth allocation made due to increases in student enrollment, for this year; and increases also linked to a growth formula for next year.

Negotiations were hampered by management actions that violated the contract and the state's bargaining law. The union filed an unfair labor practice in February, which is still pending, and also mounted an effective publicity campaign to inform the public and the college's board of governors about what was going on. "Public pressure works," says Lienhart.

IL
Adjunct faculty at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Ill., voted in February for representation by the LLCC Faculty Association/AFT. They voted to join the pre-existing, full-time faculty Illinois Federation of Teachers local, rather than have a separate unit or no union at all.

Bob Fletcher is an adjunct in the film, humanities and composition sequence who holds a doctorate in British literature and has been teaching at LLCC for 24 years. He describes the uncertainty that punctuates adjuncts' lives: "You're not assured from semester to semester how much you'll teach, where, or whether you'll have a more, or less, desirable class."

What's more, the adjuncts lack the usual "amenities"—office space, phones and teaching support. Their pay ranges from $550 to $585 per credit hour.

MI
In the pre-dawn hours of March 25, members of the Graduate Employees Organization/AFT at the University of Michigan were first to arrive at two major construction sites, the Michigan Stadium and the Ross School of Business. Construction workers, unwilling to cross the picket lines around these multimillion-dollar projects, quickly got management's attention, as did the GEO members who were blocking the entrances to classroom buildings. Within 24 hours, GEO and the university reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract.

The final agreement featured salary increases of 6.2 percent in the first year and 3.5 percent in the next two years, increased mental health care coverage, and better health insurance coverage for all unit members.

MT
Academics at Montana State University in Bozeman are working with the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers (MEA-MFT) to change their status as the only public university faculty in the state not to have union representation.

"Bozeman professors want a voice in their working conditions, benefits and salaries," says MEA-MFT director of organizing Melissa Case. "They see having a union as a way for them to work hand in hand with administration to improve academic excellence." Both full-time and adjunct faculty are part of the organizing campaign.

NY
The 34,000 academic and professional faculty who work in the State University of New York system have ratified a new four-year contract that runs through July 1, 2011. The United University Professions/AFT approved the contract by a vote of 10,297 to 249. It features salary increases of 3 percent in each of the first three years, retroactive to July 1, 2007, and 4 percent in the last year. Part-time faculty get a $500 lump sum payment if they have worked eight consecutive years, and full-time employees on continuing appointments get $500 added to their base salaries.