NJIT Adjunct Teachers Unionize In Newark, Criticize School's 'Uber Driver' Approach

NEWARK, NJ — More than 300 adjunct faculty professors at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have voted to form a union local at the Newark-based university, according to a recent news release from the American Federation of Teachers.

The state Public Employee Relations Commission (PERC) - the entity that regulates public sector unions in New Jersey - certified the vote on April 25. The new local is affiliating with the Rutgers American Association of University Professors-American Federation of Teachers, union representatives stated.

The Rutgers AAUP-AFT adjunct faculty unit represents more than 2,000 members in Camden, New Brunswick and the Newark campus, which borders NJIT, union representatives stated.

“The adjunct workforce at NJIT has been waiting a long time to have their voices heard by the administration,” said Crystal Hamai, an adjunct instructor in the Humanities Department. “By coming together as a union, I hope that the adjunct faculty will be recognized as the invaluable members of the community that we are.”

• See related article: MSU Adjunct Teachers Campaign For ‘Equal Pay’

Adjunct faculty deserve better than the sub-par wages they are offered, charged Rutgers Part-Time Lecturer President Teresa Politano, a journalism and media studies professor.

Currently, the minimum salary for adjuncts at Rutgers is about $5,200 per class, compared to $3,900 at NJIT for the same work, forcing them to scramble to pick up extra classes, union representatives said.

“This corporate model, with the adjunct functioning in the same relationship as an ‘Uber driver’ while increasingly performing the core functions of the university, is not an acceptable approach to higher education,” said Politano. “In this model, adjuncts are forced to take on as many classes as possible in order to survive and the real loser is the student."

In addition, many adjuncts at NJIT have no access to employer-sponsored health insurance, because they teach at multiple institutions part time, according to Crystal Hamai, an adjunct instructor in the Humanities Department.

“Access to health insurance is a major priority for adjunct faculty,” she said.

• See related article: Newark Teachers Union Agrees To New Contract, Salary Increases

Send local news tips, photos and press releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Patch file photo

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page here.