Union Office: Madison 116
Dear Adjunct Professor Colleagues,
Over the last decade, adjunct faculty at Camden County College have become increasingly concerned at the direction the administration is taking the institution: addition or cancellation of teaching appointments at the last minute, lack of transparency in dealings with non-tenured faculty and students, as well as the reduction of adjunct faculty are just a few of the conditions that CCC faculty have been unable to effectively resist without representation. We have no real job security, and in many cases, no clear program for advancement, despite the fact that some of us have been teaching at CCC for years or even decades.
CCC depends on a large group of highly trained, committed, non-tenure track faculty like us. While our official job titles vary by school and department – Lecturer, Assistant, Associate or Full Professor (Teaching), Adjunct, Visiting Faculty, Professor (Teaching) – we are, all of us, contingent faculty. Therefore, our employment status remains tenuous, which results in our academic freedom being compromised.
For those of us teaching as adjunct faculty with multi-year contracts, our contracts state that we are not eligible to be considered for tenure benefits, and that non-tenure-track appointments are subject to early termination, while those of us who have semester-to-semester contracts can regularly expect to be unemployed every summer. Regardless of the number of years we’ve been employed by CCC, we can never depend on the job security our tenured colleagues enjoy.
And it’s not just job security. As contingent faculty, we’re paid a fraction of what tenured and tenure-track faculty earn – even when teaching the same courses, have reduced access to professional activities, and are disenfranchised from full participation in faculty governance. It is hard to plan one’s life without a clear expectation, much less guarantee, of continued employment. As at-will employees, we lack the pay, benefits and privileges, access to campus resources, and professional growth opportunities our tenure-track colleagues have. Now, CCC Adjunct faculty are standing up for dignity and a voice in our working conditions.
Join Today!
Leadership of the Baltimore County Federation of Public Employees took time out of their Christmas celebrations with their own loved ones, to deliver presents to county public safety personnel that worked on Christmas Day. President John Ripley donned a Santa costume (beard is all his own however) to spread good cheer to those working.
2020 promises to be an important year for AFT-Maryland locals, politically. The most noteworthy election will be for President of the United States, however there are a number of other elections that will be on the radar for Maryland public sector unions. In anticipation of the upcoming elections, AFT-Maryland’s political committee gathered for their December monthly meeting.
Low wage earners who work for Baltimore city will get a boost to owning homes in the city thanks to the work of the City Union of Baltimore. The union worked with elected officials to get a property tax credit through the General Assembly and now it has been introduced at the local level. This credit would give the lowest paid city employees a $2,500 property tax credit.
Members from the unions that make up AFT-Maryland joined with sisters and brothers of the AFL-CIO to pack boxes for union and community families in need this holiday season. The Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO annually packs boxes of food and provides toys for families of union members and to the greater Baltimore community.