Temple faculty union calls for job security for adjuncts and non-tenure track professors in informational picket
The union wants yearly appointments for adjuncts instead of semester by semester and longer contracts for non-tenure track faculty.
Amid contract negotiations, members of Temple University’s faculty union held an informational picket and news conference on campus Tuesday, calling on the university to provide more job security for adjuncts and non-tenure track professors.
“We’ve had 20 bargaining sessions over the last 223 days, and they have refused to make any movement on job security,” said Jeffrey Doshna, president of the Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP), which represents more than 2,300 faculty, librarians, and academic professionals.
Faculty marched between the Mazur and Gladfelter buildings, carrying signs that said: “Equity, diversity and job security,” and “Job security now.”
» READ MORE: Temple faculty want wage increases to close equity gaps, so lowest earners would get the biggest bumps
Doshna said adjuncts are renewed semester by semester; they should be renewed yearly. Non-tenure track faculty should get multiyear contracts once they have worked for the university for several years, said Doshna, who is a non-tenure track faculty member in the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. That’s already in the contract, he said, but the administration hasn’t always provided it and the union has filed grievances.
Temple in a statement said it welcomed the peaceful demonstration and remains “committed to providing fair working conditions and compensation for faculty and staff, which is why the university was first to make a wage and benefits proposal in negotiations. This ensured that both parties would be well positioned to have informed discussions about economic issues as we work towards an agreement.”
The next bargaining session is Wednesday.
“Temple remains confident that we will land on a contract that is amenable to all parties,” the university said.
The two sides have been negotiating since August, while faculty work under the terms of the previous pact, which expired in October. Agreement has been reached on several noneconomic contract issues, the university said last month, and both sides recently began making wage-increase proposals. The union has asked for raises that will make up for inflation and reward those who earn the least with the highest percentage hikes to try and close equity gaps. The administration said it is evaluating the union’s request for tiered raises.
There’s been no public talk of a strike; the union has not taken a strike authorization vote.
Doshna said faculty hired on a contingent basis, who make up nearly three-quarters of the bargaining unit, deserve “a more reliable and dignified process of employment.”
Earlier this semester, he said, adjuncts who teach courses in intellectual heritage, part of Temple’s general education curriculum, were told they would not be renewed next year.
“These dedicated faculty have spent years developing and teaching this core part of Temple’s curriculum,” he said, adding that the university would only have saved $150,000 by cutting them.
» READ MORE: Temple and its faculty will begin contract negotiations
Faculty held demonstrations on campus last month, criticizing the potential cut. Debi Lemieur, an adjunct faculty member, said the adjunct faculty have since received emails saying they would be hired for the fall.
“We normally don’t get those emails until early August,” she said. “I still have big worries.”
Gregory N. Mandel, provost, said there was never any communication or plan to cut all the adjuncts in intellectual heritage for the fall. Adjunct hiring is decided in the summer and is dependent upon enrollment, he said. Temple has experienced a 24% decline in enrollment since 2017.
“We’ve already penciled about 30 sections” of intellectual heritage classes to be taught by adjuncts in the fall, he said. “That number is a little bit lower than our usual total.”
Doshna also repeated a contention made by three faculty members at a faculty senate meeting this semester that the university has experienced a 41% decline in tenured and tenure-track professors within the union since 2017.
The university, however, has said that number is incorrect. Temple in 2023 employed 652 tenure and tenure-track faculty within TAUP, down less than 10% from 2017, the administration has said. Non-tenure track faculty, which numbered 629 in 2023 are down about 8% over the same period, and adjuncts, at 906 in 2023, are down 13.3%.
A university spokesman said its faculty numbers were pulled from human resources and verified.
Doshna said the union’s numbers came from the administration, which he said is required to provide a list of members in the bargaining unit each semester.
“We don’t know why there is a discrepancy,” he said.