CONTACT: Nat T. Bender, nbender [@] aftnj.org, 908-377-0393
Members ratify agreement with state’s largest community college
PARAMUS…Adjunct professors, who teach a majority of the classes at Bergen Community College, have ratified a first contract agreeing to a deal with free tuition for dependents, pay raises and incentives for continuing professional development. “This contract is good for our faculty and improves the working conditions at Bergen Community College (BCC) so students will benefit as well,” said communications professor Kristin Reeves, acting chair of the chapter.
Reeves, who has been teaching at BCC for 16 years, was among the adjunct faculty who voted to form the BCC chapter of United Adjunct Faculty of New Jersey-American Federation of Teachers in March 2012. The local represents approximately 550 adjunct faculty at Bergen and 4,000 total at Passaic, Morris, Hudson, Essex, Camden, Mercer, Middlesex, Sussex and Union County colleges.
The Bergen contract offers benefits rare for part-time faculty. Unit members and dependents may attend two college classes per semester tuition free. Once the contract is finalized, faculty will receive pay for professional development including an incentive for learning to teach online classes using the college’s system.
If a class assigned to an adjunct is cancelled within one week of the start of the semester, the professor will receive a cancellation fee worth half a credit hour. Adjunct faculty make more than $700 per credit with an increase of approximately eight percent over the four years of the agreement.
Since many adjunct faculty teach classes at multiple schools having scheduled classes cancelled is a common complaint. “I teach at William Paterson University as well as BCC so I juggle scheduling and transportation at the beginning of semesters and see my colleagues doing the same,” said Reeves. “Adjuncts are the first to lose classes to last-minute cancellations due to low enrollment or scheduling conflicts so the fee is a recognition of work done to prepare for the class and loss of opportunity.”
Members voted to approve the contract with mail in ballots, which were counted Friday. The College’s Board of Trustees is expected to confirm the ratification at its October meeting.
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The American Federation of Teachers New Jersey is the largest higher education union in the state, representing faculty and staff at all the public research and four-year colleges and universities and half the community colleges.
