SEIU 1021 members who are adjunct faculty at Holy Names University (HNU) got some good news for the holidays late last month, when their bargaining team reached a strong tentative agreement with university administration after a year and a half of contract negotiations.

The tentative agreement (TA), which adjuncts will vote on later this month, includes 45% raises over the next two and a half years, including a 15% raise starting this month, as well as a host of other improvements adjuncts had identified as priorities for the new contract.

“After a long, hard fight for a just and fair contract, the SEIU team and HNU adjunct members scored a huge win, securing significantly increased wages and job-protections for adjuncts,” said HNU adjunct professor and bargaining team member Kathy Garlick. ”We came to the table willing to negotiate but firmly held our ground against HNU administration’s unfair labor practices. The process taught me that labor activism is worth every minute of effort, because it works!”

HNU administration dragged negotiations out for 18 months, but acquiesced to union demands and reached the TA the day after staff at California College of the Arts, also SEIU 1021 members, announced they had voted by 97% to authorize a strike. (You can learn more about what’s happening at CCA here.)

Here are some highlights:

• New contract term: July 1, 2020-June 30, 2024.
• Raises over 45%! Holy Names University will raise pay rates to meet the level required by SEIU-sponsored bill AB736.
  • January 1, 2022: $1500 per unit
  • July 1, 2022: $1700 per unit
  • July 1, 2023: $1890 per unit
• Effective spring semester 2022, adjuncts will be converted back into per course/salaried employees.
• If a class is canceled after the start of the term, the adjunct will be paid $50/hour for each hour of class time in addition to the cancellation payment.
• Adjuncts will be paid their full rate per class if there are four or more students. This solves the problems of adjuncts being paid less for “under-enrolled” classes. Classes of three or fewer will be paid at the independent study rate.
• One of the major sticking points in negotiations was that Holy Names wanted to import bad language from the California College of the Arts contract to weaken job security by allowing the provost to assign courses out of seniority order based on a vague and subjective concept of “excellence.” We succeeded in keeping “excellence” out of the contract as a criteria for bypassing seniority. We did agree to language that allows limited exemptions to seniority based on criteria that are measurable and established in advance, like changing curriculum.
• Improving the Preferred Hiring Pool course posting process by providing timelines for posting courses and a dedicated webpage.