photo by Ty Smith
Supporters of adjuncts unionization march down Boulevard of the Allies on Monday in the Labor Day parade. Pittsburgh’s Labor Day Parade is the second largest in the U.S. after New York City.

Point Park’s adjunct faculty chose to unionize in a mail-in vote on June 25, seeking better wages, job security, health benefits and office space.

It is really seen as the only way for adjunct teachers to improve their working conditions which are pretty abysmal,” said Randa Ruge in an interview on Aug 25.

Ruge is the lead adjunct organizer at United Steelworkers, which is backing the new union. 

After a long debate between Point Park’s adjunct faculty and the administration, the vote to unionize passed with a final tally of 172 votes for unionization to 79 against. 

“Point Park’s adjunct staff actually approached us about unionizing two years ago,” Ruge said.

“The number one issue was wages,” Ruge said.

According to the University, wages range from $2,091 to $2,727 per course. 

“The number two issue was job security,” Ruge said.

According to collegefactual.com, 74 percent of the teaching staff at the University are “part-time non-faculty or non tenure-track faculty,” meaning adjunct. 

“I wasn’t surprised about the thought that it would happen; I was surprised at the speed at which it happened,” said adjunct theater professor Sharon Brady in a phone interview on Aug. 27. 

“It’s not just something going on at Point Park, it is happening nationally and it is more to raise awareness of the conditions that adjunct professors work under,” said Brady, who joined the effort to unionize about a year and a half ago.

Teaching is Brady’s primary source of income but she did recognize that there were multiple schools of thought within the adjunct staff. 

“There are three camps, if you will,” Brady said. “Some who did not think adjuncts should rely primarily on teaching and those like me, who as an actor, can not have another steady job because of our profession. And those who view it as secondary to their career.” 

Brady added that the last camp within the adjuncts were “passionate teachers who cobble a living together by working at three or four universities.” 

According to Al Jazeera, adjunct teachers work multiple jobs and still live at or below the poverty line.

Another adjunct, professor Judith Cohen, agrees with Brady’s sentiments.

“I’m scholarly, I do my job and after ten years it was time for some recognition,” said Cohen in a telephone interview on Aug. 27.

Cohen teaches political science and is a lawyer by trade, but teaching is her primary job. “I am very interested in constitutional law and labor law, and I believe in fairness and need to recognize our service,” she said.

She agreed that the main cause for unionization was wages, saying, “We understand that it is a part time job, but wages became stagnant and there was no parity.”  

The day the final vote was counted Point Park administration released a statement through University spokesperson Lou Corsaro.

“We are pleased that so many adjunct faculty members took the time to make their voices heard on this important issue,” said Corsaro. “We respect the decision made by those eligible to vote and look forward to working with all faculty members to fulfill Point Park’s mission of educating the next generation.”

Both Cohen and Brady echoed that same statement.

“I have great regard for the administration and I look forward to working with them,” Cohen said. 

“I love teaching, I love my students and I love working at Point Park,” Brady said, “I look forward to working with the administration on this issue.”