Adjunct professors look to unionize over pay, benefits

Montgomery College administration disputes claim they aren’t compensated fairly

Full-time instructors ‘‘get paid two to three times what we get paid to teach the same classes,” said Victoria A. Baldassano, a member of the union organizing committee and an adjunct professor for three years. ‘‘There are a lot of us who go from campus to campus ... just to make a living.”

Montgomery College’s adjunct professors can earn as much as $880 per credit hour while full-time professors earn as much as $3,038 per credit hour, Baldassano said. Typically, college classes are three credit hours.

‘‘There are kids in my class who work at Target that make as much as I do,” Baldassano said, adding that adjunct professors get one day of sick leave per semester.

Last month, adjunct professors filled out ballots to show support for electing the Service Employees International Union Local 500 as their representative. On Thursday, the union sent the ballots to the state’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation for verification.

If the ballots are verified, then Montgomery College’s adjunct faculty will hold a formal election within two months to name the union officially as its representative. DLLR would determine how the vote would be conducted and when it would be, said Anthony Passarelli, a union representative.

Officials at Montgomery College disagree with the adjuncts. A memo circulated among staff said that the college’s adjunct faculty got an 8 percent pay increase this school year and sick leave, among other things.

‘‘Unionization would almost necessarily standardize the treatment of the College’s part time faculty,” the memo said. ‘‘This could result in difficulties with the assignment and scheduling of classes, and potentially the relationships with full time faculty.”

‘‘We understand that the union has suggested that part time faculty are not treated with dignity or respect, and that they are denied fair pay. We disagree with this claim,” the memo continued. ‘‘Montgomery College has worked hard to provide opportunities and benefits for part time faculty that have been implemented without a union.”

Union representatives and adjunct professors hope the situation does not play out like it did at George Washington University, where it took three years for part-time faculty to get union representation and a contract.

In early January, George Washington officials ratified a deal with the union, more than three years after the adjuncts voted to unionize. The vote was taken in October 2004, but the university refused to recognize the union and filed a series of appeals to stop the process from taking place.

The SEIU Local 500 represents more than 1,200 adjunct professors at George Washington, according to a press release.