Dear Students and Colleagues,
On Sunday we go back to the bargaining table in one last attempt to reach a deal before we strike. We do this on the heels of receiving support from our tenured colleagues and students who have committed in overwhelming numbers to strike with us. We are intrigued to see that just as we are about to strike, the administration is suddenly beginning to make more serious proposals to improve the lives of contingent faculty. We should note that every single item the administration has proposed we have had to fight for, tooth and nail. While this represents two years of hard volunteer work from contingent faculty, the college has spent hundreds of thousands of student tuition dollars trying to prevent us from winning what they put in their latest proposal.
We would also like to emphasize that the College's latest offer on pay is far from our original goal of pay parity for PT faculty, which, as we have demonstrated, the college could easily afford. The failure of the administration to close this discriminatory pay gap is a matter of choice, not of necessity. As of last fall, we could barely get the administration to budge by 1% to lift contingent faculty out of poverty. Now, when faced with a strike, they can suddenly pull a 7% increase out of thin air when they feel like it. They are playing a game, and IC deserves more than games from our supposed 'leadership'.
With these points in mind, we have reviewed their actual proposals - as opposed to their PR-friendly announcements - in good faith, and considered them fairly. But until we have secured the justice that our membership came together to seek, the strike is on. We will be sending back a fair counter proposal. Only if the administration agrees to a fair contract will we call off the strike, so stay tuned!
Here is a summary of the issues we will ask the administration to address on Sunday:
1) We will ask for a higher compensation rate for PT faculty, which we know the administration can easily afford. Also, the administration’s proposal does not have a seniority structure for PT faculty who have dedicated years of service to Ithaca College. We will ask that they address this in our proposal.
2) The administration’s proposal, as it stands currently, would mean LESS pay for PT faculty in the Art Department who teach exceptionally long 3 credit classes and who are currently paid on a 4 credit basis. Additionally, it would mean LESS pay for those who currently make above the stated rates. We will ask that they address this in our proposal.
3) FT contingent faculty began organizing their union in the fall of 2015 and have never received an across the board cost of living increase. The administration’s proposal does nothing to immediately address this, so will we ask that they solve this in our proposal.
4) The administration’s proposal does not acknowledge the firing of the majority of the FT bargaining committee, nor does it provide notification soon enough to plan for our lives should we also be let go.
5) We are encouraged by the offering of two-year appointments to FT contingent faculty. Our proposal will ask for three-year appointments for those who have been teaching full-time at Ithaca College over five years.
6) We are confused by their Professional Development Proposal as we had already come to a tentative agreement on Professional Development which guaranteed access to funds, without a cap, for Professional Development, regardless of seniority. The college's new proposal appears to limit the amount of funds available and restrict such funds to those with four years of seniority at the college. This is concerning and may be considered regressive bargaining, which would be yet another Unfair Labor Practice against the college. This issue must be resolved at our next bargaining session.
We hope the administration will make the necessary changes on Sunday during our negotiations so we can settle this without a strike. Until then, we stand unified as one community and one faculty. The strike is on. On Saturday we will send out picketing details and make public our strike schedule for Tuesday the 28th and Wednesday the 29th. Sign up for picket shifts here.
In Solidarity,
Mark Baustian, Lecturer | mbaustian@frontiernet.net
John Burger, Lecturer | jedmundburger@gmail.com
Brody Burroughs, Lecturer | brodyburroughs@gmail.com
Shoshe Cole, Asst. Professor | shoshe@astro.cornell.edu
Luke Fenchel, Lecturer | luke.fenchel@gmail.com
Tahlia Fischer, Lecturer | crazyfrets1@hotmail.com
Erin Francisco, Lecturer | francisco.erin@gmail.com
Megan Graham, Asst. Professor | mdgraham@gmail.com
Sarah Grunberg, Instructor | sgrunbe1@gmail.com
Rachel Gunderson, Instructor | rachelgunderson1@gmail.com
Rachel Kaufman, Lecturer | rkaufma2@binghamton.edu
Dave Kornreich, Asst. Professor | doctordave5474@gmail.com
Tom Schneller, Lecturer | wyckwyn@gmail.com
Edward Sorel, Instructor | psyresgrp@aol.com
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20170324145934188