Non-Tenured Faculty At U Of I Petition For Union

More than 400 University of Illinois faculty have filed paperwork to unionize.  Non-tenured track faculty submitted their petition this week to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.

Brian Dolinar, a visiting lecturer in the history department, said adjunct faculty are treated poorly, lacking appropriate salaries, opportunities for promotion, and multi-year contracts.  

He said that amounts to a lack of job security.

"We’re seeing the slow erosion of higher education, and the basic tenents that a previous generation accepted as standard," he said.  "And so we’re hoping that a union will help to restore the values of higher education.”

Dolinar says he expects administrators to fight the unionization effort.  He said he’s sympathetic to budget constraints, but non-tenured track faculty need some incentives in writing.

In a mass e-mail dated April 28, Urbana campus Provost Ilesanmi Adesida said leaders have determined it’s appropriate to set minimum salaries at $40-thousand a year for full-time, 9-month appointments but "we are working to implement necessary adjustments as soon as possible." 

University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said as of Friday, the U of I had not received notice from the labor relations board that the petition was filed.