Saturday, July 23, 2016

When a 40% Raise Is Just Getting Started - Maxine Joselow, Inside Higher Ed

The University of Memphis has proposed a 40 percent increase in minimum adjunct pay, from $1,500 to $2,100 per three-credit-hour course. This marks the first pay raise for adjuncts at the university in three decades. Yet as adjuncts at other universities are winning contracts with minimums more than three times higher, progress may not mean that adjuncts at the University of Memphis will be taking home a decent wage. Administrators and professors have hailed the move as a long-overdue step toward ensuring equitable treatment for adjuncts. But some say the situation at the University of Memphis highlights the fact that adjuncts can often go decades without raises -- especially if they don’t unionize and negotiate better contracts. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/07/14/university-memphis-boosts-adjunct-pay-it-remains-low