Statement in Support of Non-Tenure Faculty Coalition Workers
At this moment, on this campus, union workers with the Non Tenure Faculty Coalition (NTFC Local #6546) are on the frontlines of the battle for labor in this nation’s Universities. Not only are non-tenure track faculty proving that safety comes in numbers, they are also fighting back to ensure that the most common form of academic work provides a quality standard of living. Bargaining between NTFC and UIUC admin is underway, and the Union is fighting for its members’ right to gender affirming care, security from overwork, and wages which reflect their labor and cost of living.
Higher Education in the United States is under direct attack from administrations which refuse to address their own institutional bloat, preferring to shift the blame upon an ever-growing and overworked class of non-tenured faculty with virtually zero protections. The American Association of University Professors compiled labor data and determined that a startling 68% of U.S. academic faculty hold contingent appointments (adjuncts, non-tenure contract-renewable, and in some cases Grad Students), and of those employed nearly half are employed part-time.
As of 2021, 67% of faculty across the country were full- or part-time contingent appointments across all institution types. Together, NTFC and GEO are representative of the vast majority of faculty labor in the United States. University administrations across the country are looking to institutions like UIUC to pioneer new ways in which to further exploit, degrade, and overwork this already precarious category of worker. NTFC’s work at the bargaining table is not only important for non-tenured faculty at this campus, it is drawing a line in the sand over what is and isn’t acceptable for workers making up the backbone of our higher education system.
NTFC is directly fighting back against labor erosion by demanding that UIUC fund its own collective bargaining agreements. This means that when the administration agrees to negotiated salary or benefits increases, they cannot just shift the burden of funding those increases upon Departments and Colleges. The Union is negotiating with the University. The University itself should stand by their own agreements, and offer funding to Departments and Colleges which employ these faculty. Too often the modern University attempts to rid itself of any responsibility by hiding within self-made bureaucratic tape: the University of Illinois is our employer, we demand they pay our wages!
NTFC is offering a stirring and timely example of how the quickest way to combat systems of oppression is through the collective action of workers. Strong labor unions means protections for your instructor or colleague! Strong labor unions means your Universities function as spaces of learning, not as modern mega-corporations cutting the bottom dollar! Strong labor unions make your UIUC a better place!
Support NTFC in these three easy ways;
Attend the UI Senate meeting on Monday April 22 3:10pm-5:10pm at the Illini Union Ballroom to demand that UIUC fund its CBA’s. NTFC asks attendees to sit quietly, but bring signs!
Attend the Solidarity Rally for Campus Unions on Thursday May 2 (Reading Day) 12pm-2pm starting from the Illini Union, marching to Swanlund
Follow NTFC on Instagram @ntfc6546 and keep abreast of updates at the bargaining table!