Friday, September 11, 2009

Montgomery College Adjuncts Stage Cyber-Rally

Earlier this morning, an incredible 83% of our site traffic consisted of direct entries to Montgomery College adjunct professor Victoria Baldassano's guest post, "A Voice from the Other Half: Montgomery College Part-Time Faculty Member Speaks."

A year ago, this blog chronicled a campaign by the college's adjuncts to seek representation by SEIU Local 500. At the time, adjuncts were paid $880 per credit hour while full-time faculty could make up to $3,038 per credit hour for doing the same work. Then-President Brian Johnson hired a notorious union-busting consultant to crush the effort. While the professors voted for unionization by a 365-105 margin, Johnson stalled on concluding a collective bargaining agreement with them ever since.

But the issue remains a hot one on campus. The traffic to Baldassano's guest post is not being driven from any central source. Instead, most of the visits are coming in spontaneously, probably through email chains. That means the adjuncts are fed up. If new Montgomery College Acting President Hercules Pinkney really wants to be a "calming spirit," he needs to finish the contract negotiations and give the adjuncts their due.