By Randi Weingarten
President, American Federation of Teachers

I don’t write emails to our full membership and activist community often, but the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court case warrants it.

The case is challenging the 45-year-old precedent that 23 states have used to determine wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of public employees’ jobs. As the Illinois solicitor general eloquently argued at the Supreme Court yesterday, these 23 states decided that, for labor peace and the efficiency of services, public employees can be represented by a union, and, as long as the union represents

When Robin Meade became chair of the Moraine Valley Community College chapter of Cook County (Ill.) College Teachers Union, she had no idea she was putting her job—teaching business courses as an adjunct—on the line. When she said the college treats adjuncts like "disposable resources," she was sure she was within the bounds of her work as an advocate for better working conditions.

The college disagreed. Two days after her comments, written in a letter to the League for Innovation in the Community College, MVCC's chief of campus police hand-delivered a letter of termination to Meade at her home

PATFA offered a formal comment to the draft version of the System's proposal for a new structure for its online teaching. The report, "Unified Online," dated October 2015, is in draft form and will be presented to the Board of Trustees later this fall.

While PATFA takes no position as to the proposed new structure, it noted draft language that called for creation of Online Faculty Ambassadors (a committee, really) to advise the System on online teaching. The language specifically said "full-time faculty" would be on the panel.

PATFA's statement, posted Nov. 2, 2015, reads:

"The Part-time Faculty

It's coming-- the floor fights in the State House and Senate over the so-called Right to Work bills and the other attempts to weaken our collective bargaining rights will start next week.

Please take action today by clicking here to send an email to your State Rep and State Senator asking them to stand on the side of Maine working people and oppose these bills.

http://act.aflcio.org/c/19/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10284

It just takes a minute, and if we all do it we can keep the pressure on them to do what's right.

Click here to send a message: Protect workers' rights and defeat these

As the new semester begins at the seven universities of the University of Maine System, the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine (PATFA) reminds adjuncts to be aware of our contract language – especially if your courses are taken away.

Your contract addresses what happens when last-minute changes occur.

We provide the relevant contract language below. You would be wise to review it. Of course, the System has rights – but so do you.

One thing is not so clear: If you are entitled to a cancellation fee, you should contact your university’s Human Resources people and your coordinator/department

USM Campus Report 2014

Michele Cheung, Harlan Baker – May 25, 2014

It’s been an eventful year at USM. The two biggest pieces of news involve follow-up on the AYA grievance from last year and the faculty and program cuts this April.

AYA Update:

Last summer, USM arbitrarily, unilaterally and with no notice decided to not give AYA’s. With executive committee consent, I initiated a systemwide grievance on behalf of all the adjuncts. We delivered this grievance at the time of our first contract bargaining session. In the meantime, I got USM to decide to reverse their decision and continue the AYA’s for

By Randi Weingarten
President, American Federation of Teachers

I don’t write emails to our full membership and activist community often, but the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court case warrants it.

The case is challenging the 45-year-old precedent that 23 states have used to determine wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of public employees’ jobs. As the Illinois solicitor general eloquently argued at the Supreme Court yesterday, these 23 states decided that, for labor peace and the efficiency of services, public employees can be represented by a union, and, as long as the union represents

When Robin Meade became chair of the Moraine Valley Community College chapter of Cook County (Ill.) College Teachers Union, she had no idea she was putting her job—teaching business courses as an adjunct—on the line. When she said the college treats adjuncts like "disposable resources," she was sure she was within the bounds of her work as an advocate for better working conditions.

The college disagreed. Two days after her comments, written in a letter to the League for Innovation in the Community College, MVCC's chief of campus police hand-delivered a letter of termination to Meade at her home

PATFA offered a formal comment to the draft version of the System's proposal for a new structure for its online teaching. The report, "Unified Online," dated October 2015, is in draft form and will be presented to the Board of Trustees later this fall.

While PATFA takes no position as to the proposed new structure, it noted draft language that called for creation of Online Faculty Ambassadors (a committee, really) to advise the System on online teaching. The language specifically said "full-time faculty" would be on the panel.

PATFA's statement, posted Nov. 2, 2015, reads:

"The Part-time Faculty

It's coming-- the floor fights in the State House and Senate over the so-called Right to Work bills and the other attempts to weaken our collective bargaining rights will start next week.

Please take action today by clicking here to send an email to your State Rep and State Senator asking them to stand on the side of Maine working people and oppose these bills.

http://act.aflcio.org/c/19/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=10284

It just takes a minute, and if we all do it we can keep the pressure on them to do what's right.

Click here to send a message: Protect workers' rights and defeat these

As the new semester begins at the seven universities of the University of Maine System, the Part-time Faculty Association of Maine (PATFA) reminds adjuncts to be aware of our contract language – especially if your courses are taken away.

Your contract addresses what happens when last-minute changes occur.

We provide the relevant contract language below. You would be wise to review it. Of course, the System has rights – but so do you.

One thing is not so clear: If you are entitled to a cancellation fee, you should contact your university’s Human Resources people and your coordinator/department

USM Campus Report 2014

Michele Cheung, Harlan Baker – May 25, 2014

It’s been an eventful year at USM. The two biggest pieces of news involve follow-up on the AYA grievance from last year and the faculty and program cuts this April.

AYA Update:

Last summer, USM arbitrarily, unilaterally and with no notice decided to not give AYA’s. With executive committee consent, I initiated a systemwide grievance on behalf of all the adjuncts. We delivered this grievance at the time of our first contract bargaining session. In the meantime, I got USM to decide to reverse their decision and continue the AYA’s for