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Contingent Faculty Action Plan

NEA unveils its long-awaited plan to organize and empower the contingent academic workforce.

The NEA and Contingent Academic Workers in Higher Education: NBI 2004-60 Action Plan is now available at http://www2.nea.org/he/images/NEAcontingentplan.pdf. The document is a comprehensive plan of action developed “to secure for contingent academic workers throughout public higher education the rights, benefits and protections that full-time tenure-track workers currently enjoy.”

Contingent academic workers are those without long-term job security, i.e., higher education workers with limited term contracts, those in part-time, adjunct, or temporary positions.

Elements of the plan include recommendations for research, organizing, political advocacy, collective bargaining, leadership development and capacity building. NEA’s goals and objectives for the program include pro rata pay, benefits, and job security for contingent workers, while fully supporting the rights and positions of full-time tenure track workers.

“Building Alliances for Higher Education and the Public Good” is the theme of the 2008 NEA Higher Education Conference. Mark your calendar for March 28–30, 2008 and plan to hear a dynamic keynote address from John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton. This year’s conference will be held jointly with the American Federation of Teachers conference at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C.

More information and online registration coming later this fall at www2.nea.org/he/conf.html.

Among the significant actions taken by delegates to the 2007 NEA Representative Assembly in Orlando last July was the adoption of a legislative amendment intended to protect students and educational quality from governmental interference. The proposal calls for more faculty involvement in decisions about articulation agreements (see In the Know, page 3).

In addition to the usual business of the Assembly, delegates heard from eight presidential candidates who spoke to a number of education issues. The impressive lineup of candidates demonstrated to many delegates NEA’s significant political influence. “We must insist that our voices are heard,” NEA President Reg Weaver told delegates. “And to ensure that we are not only heard, but heeded, we must engage in the political process that is such a vital part of our great democracy.”

In October and November several affiliates have meetings scheduled (including Wyoming, New York, California, Illinois, Michigan, and Iowa). If your affiliate is holding a meeting this fall or next spring, please notify highered@nea.org so we can update our calendar for all affiliate meetings. We can provide materials, and in some cases, speakers for these meetings.