3 Catholic colleges appeal rulings on adjunct faculty unionization

August 14, 2013

Three Catholic colleges--Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Manhattan College in New York, and St. Xavier College in Chicago--have appealed rulings from the National Labor Relations Board permitting adjunct faculty to form unions, according to a Catholic News Service report.

Adjunct faculty teach the majority of classes at the three colleges; they typically receive no benefits and earn one third of the salary of tenured faculty.

In their appeals, the colleges have cited First Amendment concerns.

“Catholic social teaching is quite explicit about the importance of labor unions,” said Robin Sowards, an adjunct faculty member at Duquesne University. “To say that as a Catholic university you’re too Catholic for the government, but not Catholic enough to follow your own teachings, is profoundly hypocritical.”

“This is not about religion,” he added. “It’s about preventing the most poorly paid employees to be represented by a union.”

Without opposition from university administration, Georgetown University’s adjunct faculty recently voted to form a union.

 

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Further information:

• Adjunct faculty want to form union at Catholic university, two colleges (CNS)