Mercy College Adjunct Faculty To Vote On Strike

DOBBS FERRY, NY — The union representing adjunct faculty and lecturers at Mercy College has announced its members will be holding a vote on whether or not to strike.

The Mercy Faculty Forward/Service Employees International Union, Local 200United union bargaining committee, said a strike vote will be held April 11-12.

The union represents 700 adjunct faculty and lecturers, who make up 70 percent of Mercy College's faculty. They have been negotiating for more than two-and-a-half years toward a first contract.

There have been nearly 30 sessions with the college's administration, led by President Tim Hall, a union spokesperson said.

While there have been agreements on various non-economic proposals, the union said the college refuses to budge on proposals regarding wages and job security.

Crisanta Melicio, a union bargaining committee member, said, as an adjunct in the nursing department, she was ready to strike for a fair contract.

"Two and a half years is too long to go without a fair pay increase and job security," she said. "The impact adjunct contingency has on our students is significant — they deserve a stable workforce of teachers who can assist them through the long haul at Mercy."

When asked for a comment, Laura Plunkett, executive director of public relations and community relations, told Patch that the college is not anti-union and "has a longstanding cordial relationship with another union that represents many of our non-faculty staff.

"Typically, first contracts can take more than a year to negotiate, and sometimes can take several years, particularly for large groups of employees with diverse backgrounds and work duties," she said.

Plunkett said the college has been working with the adjunct faculty's union since October 2019 to negotiate a contract.

During that period, the college negotiated an agreement with the College of New Rochelle, which was shutting its doors, to absorb roughly 1,800 of its students and to rely partially upon existing full-time and part-time faculty of CNR to serve those students.

"As a result, Mercy increased salaries by more than 35 percent for Mercy adjuncts generally," Plunkett said. "As it stands, our current adjunct salary rates are on par with peer institutions in our region."

She said the union is demanding salary rates paid by wealthy institutions such as Fordham University, whose tuition rate is almost triple that of Mercy's $19,000 per year.

In a letter to the college's adjunct faculty and lecturers, President Tim Hall said the college has offered, compared to the base adjunct salaries prior to unionization, a combined increase of 45.5 percent.

Hall said the college also proposed arbitration for instances where disputes cannot be resolved through internal processes or mediation, calling it a major concession by the institution.

"In light of these developments, we believe that any further talk of a potential strike would be irresponsible and contrary to the best interests of our students and the entire College community, including adjunct faculty members," he said in the letter.