AnonymousSource: UC-AFT
Lecturers seek better working conditions to foster student success
From 10 AM to 4 PM on Thursday, December 12 and Friday, December 13, UC lecturers and lawyers from the UC Office of the President will conduct contract bargaining sessions in the UCSB Student Affairs & Administrative Services Building. This is the first time in UCSB’s history that such bargaining has taken place on its campus. The sessions are open to observers and supporters who would like to attend. This will be a unique opportunity to witness the negotiation process, and how the UCOP views its teaching faculty. Information sessions and informal teach-ins will take place in front of SAASB throughout the day.
Lecturers teach 30-35% of all student credit hours at UCSB. However, compared to their colleagues with tenure-track positions, lecturers have little job security, low pay, and often, no benefits. A lecturer might have to wait until August to know whether they will have a job in the Fall, and because so many positions are part time, the median income of lecturers across the UC system is only $19,900 a year. This is nowhere near a living wage in California, much less Santa Barbara.
UC-AFT, which represents around 6,000 teaching faculty across 10 University of California campuses, recently began negotiations with university administrators for a new employment contract. At the heart of UC-AFT’s campaign is the demand that UC provide lecturers’ the working conditions they need to foster student success.
UC-AFT represents librarians and non-Senate faculty working throughout the University of California system. UC-AFT members hold academic appointments as lecturers, program coordinators, supervisors of teacher education, and librarians. For more information about UC-AFT, go to ucaft.org. #WeTeachUC #facultyequity #studentsuccess
Are part time jobs supposed to be a living wage? No wonder university educations are so expensive and the kids are burdened with debt. Maybe the professors should teach more classes; they get a living wage.