Tufts U. Adjuncts Get Better Pay and Job Security in New Contract

A new contract guarantees most part-time professors at Tufts University better job security and a 22-percent pay raise over three years, The Boston Globe reports. The agreement caps a push by adjuncts at Tufts to organize for improved pay and benefits, among other things.

The terms of the new contract, which goes into effect on January 1, also call for:

• Adjuncts to get first notice of and a guaranteed interview for any full-time openings.
• The creation of a $25,000-per-year pool of money for professional development.
• Adjuncts with several years of experience to be eligible for two- and three-year appointments.

More than 95 percent of the university’s roughly 200 adjunct faculty members voted on Friday in favor of the agreement, which also allows adjuncts who teach three or more courses in a year to continue getting health, retirement, and other benefits.

Adjuncts at Tufts voted to unionize in September 2013, representing the first major victory in the Service Employees International Union’s national campaign to organize part-time professors.