Mercy College Adjuncts Rally Over Contract Dispute

DOBBS FERRY, NY — Mercy College adjunct faculty and students held a rally for a new union contract outside a fundraiser for Mercy College held at the Ardsley Country Club in Dobbs Ferry, NY.

Union leaders said negotiations at Mercy College have lasted longer than with any other institution where SEIU Local 200United represents non-tenure track faculty; so, after two years at the bargaining table, the Mercy College adjunct faculty decided to take public steps to encourage management to reach a settlement.

The faculty members were joined by Westchester Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins and County Clerk Tim Idoni.

“Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions," said Katherine Flaherty, a Lecturer for Critical Inquiry and Junior Seminar and part of the union bargaining committee, in a news release. "We need a living wage for adjunct faculty so that we can focus on our students. We need economic stability and job security so that we can provide a stable learning environment for students. The status quo of low pay and high faculty turnover is no way to educate the next generation."

Adjunct faculty at Mercy are like their colleagues at colleges and universities across the country. According to a 2019 study, "The Plight of Adjuncts in Higher Education," hundreds of thousands of adjunct instructors teach at colleges and universities, representing two-fifths of all faculty. But while tenured professors were paid between $60,000 and $100,000 a year, adjunct faculty were paid an average of $2,700 per course with no benefits and poor working conditions.

At Mercy, adjuncts teach most of the classes, but their pay represents a small fraction of the college’s budget, said union representative Brian Pugh. "The College’s top administrators earn much more."

Mercy's adjunct faculty voted to join SEIU Local 200United in 2019, and contract negotiations have been ongoing since fall 2019.

Union representatives want the administration to consider reasonable improvements, including:

1. Providing a continuous learning environment—instead adjunct faculty are hired only on a semester-to-semester basis where courses can be cancelled at the last minute without compensation;
2. Funding professional development for the purpose of improving curriculum;
3. Incentives to retain long-term professors who have demonstrated success with students;
4. Office space in which to meet privately with students

SEIU Local 200United represents faculty at colleges and universities across New York State, including Fordham University, Nazareth College and the College of St. Rose.