After unionizing last August, adjuncts at Central Michigan University have reached agreement on a new contract that would increase job security and, more modestly, their pay. The four-year deal, announced Tuesday by the Union of Teaching Faculty and CMU, would apply to about two-thirds of the unit’s 340 members who work part-time or more. The bargaining unit includes adjuncts and graduate students. A separate unit, affiliated with the Michigan Education Association, represents tenured and tenure-track faculty.
CMU administration confirmed that a tentative agreement had been reached, but withheld further comment pending the deal’s ratification. Sources familiar with the terms of the deal said that, a year from now, adjuncts who have taught for five years will become eligible to sign multi-year contracts. Job security was achieved in return for modest pay increases, mostly directed to lower paid workers. The lowest paid adjuncts who work full-time would see their wages rise from the current level, less than $20,000, to $24,000, sources said. The union recently began campaigning for higher wages for adjuncts by highlighting members who worked full-time, but needed to rely on public assistance to make ends meet.
United Academics of the University of Oregon 