When our non-tenured faculty members were unionized, one of the greatest achievements of the union was to define what their job duties consisted of and get that definition into the contract. Before that, adjuncts and instructors were forced to do enormous quantities of service that they weren’t paid for and that led absolutely nowhere for them. Now, nobody can ask an adjunct to sit on a committee or to be present on campus outside of teaching and office hours. And the union is extremely effective, so nobody even tries to impinge on this provision.
Sounds great, right?
Well, this provision of the contract has actually been one of the greatest sources of resentment on campus for years. Many adjuncts complain that without attending committees and doing the busy work of service, they don’t “feel included.” I’d think that not feeling exploited would be a greater benefit than the dubious honor of being included into some mortally boring committee that compares two reams of mortally boring paperwork, but people still moan and complain.
I wasn’t here when that unionization drive took place but I can’t get over the suspicion that those who complain the most about not being included were the ones who were the most aggrieved over being forced to do service before the union came around.
Clarissa's Blog 
Nobody can ask them to attend committees and do busy work. But can’t they volunteer? Is there any compelling reason they don’t do so?
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The union doesn’t allow this because it will be very easy for the administration to bully people into “volunteering.” For instance, by making it clear that only those who “volunteer” get invited to teach next year or get assigned the best courses and the best classrooms.
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In a sane place and time such activities would be paid for non-tenure faculty. Given the lesser benefits and pay that seems to be a fair deal.
Too bad you (like the rest of us) are not in a sane place and time….
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Of course, it would be ideal if people could simply get paid for it.
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Speaking of unions, the largest police union in the country endorsed Trump.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/296342-nations-largest-police-union-endorses-trump
This is some scary shit. The only people in the country who have the legal authority to fucking kill you on the streets have endorsed a proto-fascist.
You may question BLM people’s strategies, but you’d be a fool to deny the underlying motivations behind its creation. If a police officer is comfortable with supporting Trump in public, I have absolutely no trust in their interactions with citizenry when nobody’s watching.
Also, it is quite interesting (and by that I mean, quite obvious) that at a time when labor has lost all its power, the one union that still thrives is the police union. Politicians on both sides fall over backwards in kissing the asses of these petulant little children.
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Creepy.
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I think the union was foolish to push for absolutely zero service. Lots of service is bull shit, but some of it isn’t and it can be useful for NTT folk to be involved in some of it.
We’ve been discussing this issue on our campus and the issue here is that nothing is written down. We’re told that NTT faculty all have at least 10% of their appointment as service and some have up to 40%, but the percentage is not written into most contracts and it’s up to department chairs to tell their NTT faculty what the expectations are. But half of the chairs don’t seem to know themselves, and then some chairs don’t give their NTT folks any service to do, and some people who are told they have 10% services doing far more than people who are told they have 20%. I’m sure things haven’t been written down because it makes it easier to change things with little notice, but the push here (no unions involved) has been to get a percentage written into the contracts, not eliminate service requirements.
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If somebody negotiated a zero service contract for me, I’d be a happy, happy person. 😎😋
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