Amid the summer sun (or clouds), the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine (PATFA) would like to bring you up to date on a few matters affecting all adjuncts in the University of Maine System.
First, our two-year contract expires Aug. 31. No matter whether you are a member of PATFA (Local 4593, American Federation of Teachers) or not, the contract covers you. And it will continue to do so until a new one is negotiated and approved. Both PATFA and the System office have begun discussions. In your dealings with department chairs and coordinators this summer and fall, be clear that the 2013-15 contract’s terms cover you until a new one takes its place.
To take a look at the current contract, visit our PATFA website, then click on the drop-down box labled “Resources.” That takes you to the System site, where you will see a listing for the 2013-15 PATFA contract in pdf format. The PATFA website is www.patfa.me.aft.org.
Second, our revised PATFA constitution passed at our Annual Meeting on May 15 in Gorham. The only change in the proposed language was to better define a quorum at future Annual Meetings. PATFA is in its fourth decade, and its original constitution needed updating.
Third, members of PATFA voted at the May 15 Annual Meeting to endorse former state Sen. Emily Cain in her announced run for the U.S. House of Representatives in Maine’s Second District. Cain addressed the PATFA Annual Meeting in person in 2014 and 2015. She is a longtime advocate for public higher education.
Rep. Dillon Bates of Westbrook also addressed PATFA’s Annual Meeting, as did Matt Schlobohm, executive director of the AFL-CIO in Maine. Bates is a member of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development. Both offered their observations on the status of key legislation in Augusta.
Finally, PATFA urges you to read your course contracts closely and keep an eye on the calendar as well. Under the general PATFA contract, all adjuncts in the University of Maine System “shall receive information regarding their proposed teaching assignment for the next semester at least sixty (60) days prior to the start of that semester when possible and shall receive the official assignment at least thirty (30) days prior to the start of that semester when possible.”
Don’t forget that you may be entitled to a cancellation fee if your course is canceled.
Adjuncts “shall receive a cancellation payment when an official assignment is retracted within one (1) month prior to the first class meeting. Such payment shall be five percent (5%) of the amount which was to be paid for the course.”
And an adjunct is entitled to a cancellation payment “when an official assignment is retracted after the first class meeting in the amount of five percent (5%) plus a proportional basis for any actual classes met.” If the retracted course requires “significant academic preparation” or the adjunct has not previously taught that course, the cancellation payment is ten percent (10%).
Michele Cheung, USM, president; Jim Seymour, UMA, vice president; Pam Mitchel, UMF, treasurer; Tom McCord, UMA, secretary.