BY LESLIE BRODY, STAFF WRITER, The Record
Adjunct professors at Bergen Community College have unionized, joining peers at nine other county colleges statewide.
Organizers said Tuesday that these part-time teachers sought collective bargaining rights to get better raises, more pay with experience, sick pay, paid professional development and timely notification when classes are canceled due to low enrollment.
A certification of the new chapter of United Adjunct Faculty of New Jersey arrived Tuesday, said Nat Bender, a spokesman for the group’s parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers. He said the union had clout; Essex County College adjuncts won a raise of more than 10 percent in their first negotiated contract.
The chapter will represent 678 adjunct instructors at Bergen Community College, the largest community college in the state. The school serves about 32,000 students on campuses in Paramus, Hackensack and Lyndhurst. About 300 regular full-time professors there are already unionized through the New Jersey Education Association.
Sandy Shevack, an adjunct sociology professor at BCC who helped form the new United Adjunct Faculty of New Jersey chapter, said joining forces would help adjuncts get a “much-needed voice on compensation and working conditions.” He said adjuncts typically make slightly less than $2,000 per three-credit course.
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