One of the most significant trends in American higher education over the last decade has been the shift in faculty employment from tenured to contingent. Now upwards of 75% of faculty jobs are non-tenure track; two decades ago that figure was 25%. One of the results of this shift'along with the related degradation of pay, benefits, and working conditions'has been a new push to unionize adjunct professors, spawning a national labor movement. Professors in the Gig Economy is the first book to address the causes, processes, and outcomes of these efforts.
Kim Tolley brings together scholars of education, labor history, economics, religious studies, and law, all of whom have been involved with unionization at public and private colleges and universities. Their essays and case studies address the following questions: Why have colleges and universities come to rely so heavily on contingent faculty? How have federal and state laws influenced efforts to unionize? What happens after unionization'how has collective bargaining affected institutional policies, shared governance, and relations between part-time and full-time faculty? And finally, how have unionization efforts shaped the teaching and learning that happens on campus?
Bringing substantial research and historical context to bear on the cost and benefit questions of contingent labor on campus, Professors in the Gig Economy will resonate with general readers, scholars, students, higher education professionals, and faculty interested in unionization.
Contributors: A. J. Angulo, Timothy Reese Cain, Elizabeth K. Davenport, Marianne Delaporte, Tom DePaola, Kristen Edwards, Luke Elliott-Negri, Kim Geron, Lorenzo Giachetti, Shawn Gilmore, Adrianna Kezar, Joseph A. McCartin, Gretchen M. Reevy, Gregory M. Saltzman, Kim Tolley, Nicholas M. Wertsch
Preface, by Kim Tolley Acknowledgements 1. From Golden Era to Gig Economy, by A. J. Angulo 2. Understanding the Need for Unions, by Adrianna Kezar and Thomas DePaola 3. A Long History of Activism and Organizing, by Timothy R. Cain 4. Union Organizing and the Law, by Gregory Saltzman 5. A Just Employment Approach to Adjunct Unionization, by Joseph McCartin and Nicholas Wertsch 6. Unionizing Adjunct and Tenure-Track Faculty at Notre Dame de Namur, by Kim Tolley, Marianne Delaporte, and Lorenzo Giachetti 7. Unions, Shared Governance, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, by Elizabeth K. Davenport 8. Forming a Union, by Shawn Gilmore 9. Wall to Wall, by Luke Elliot-Negri 10. California State University East Bay, by Kim Geron and Gretchen M. Reevy Conclusion, by Kim Tolley and Kristen Edwards Contributors Appendix Index
""Professors in the Gig Economy is a valuable addition to the too-small library of books on contingent faculty and graduate employee unionism. The book's focus on the organizing process puts it in even more rarified company. It enters the truly charmed center of the circle because it was edited by a teacher, Kim Tolley, who herself recently had the life-changing experience of helping to organize her own workplace, Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. Tolley's experience makes her particularly well qualified to edit such a book, especially since organizing a bargaining unit of both tenure-track and contingent faculty at a private university is very unusual in American higher education.""
