Friday, October 17, 2014

A Survey About Teachers' Working Conditions

This survey is more for the non KICNY teachers who visit this site. Though I suppose you could fill it out if you want to.



Hello Teachers --

Adjunct and contingent faculty work hard to help students succeed. You go the extra mile, often putting in long hours to prepare for classes or mentor students. You know how demanding your jobs are - but state and federal laws protecting employees are often based on faulty assumptions about the academic workforce that systematically underestimate the long hours contingent faculty work to earn their compensation. 

These faulty assumptions have serious consequences for contingent faculty. For example, coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program depends on the number of hours worked. Even salaried professional employees like adjuncts may have rights under certain wage and hour laws if they work long hours for low pay. And some employers are exploiting adjunct faculty, requiring them to work for little or no pay with few legal consequences. 

That's why we need to investigate faculty working conditions and advocate for improvements. 

Help tell the full story of what's happening in academic labor by documenting and analyzing just how much work you are doing, and reporting when you are doing it for free. 

Take this survey because the answers matter. 

The data will be aggregated and used to support national and state policy initiatives to improve eligibility rules for certain benefit programs and to increase accountability for employers who are exploiting their faculty. 

After completing the survey, you may be invited to take part in a confidential study to further explore adjunct working conditions and to do a follow-up interview. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our research coordinator Erica Rafford-Noyes at erica.rafford-noyes@seiu.org

Once again, here's the link to the survey: http://action.seiu.org/page/content/office-hours-2/ 

Best regards, 
Malini Cadambi Daniel 
Campaign Director, Adjunct Action




ESL Teachers Unite!

We've noticed another blog recently, called "ESL Teachers Unite".

The blog's posts are dedicated to encouraging ESL schools to organize, to help raise the abysmal standards teachers have to face. There are also some very handy links on the sidebar, much of it pertaining to California and Federal laws meant to keep teachers informed of their rights as workers.

They even used us an example in a post, as proof that ESL teachers can come together and fight for fair working conditions!


Link:
http://esltu.blogspot.com/

Friday, May 16, 2014

Kaplan General Membership Meeting, May 21st

tl_files/nyguild/email/KAPLAN_Present Progressive shop header.jpg

Kaplan General Membership Meeting May 21

Our first membership meeting post-ratification! There are several important items of business to cover, so please make every effort to attend.  Topics include filling vacated unit officer positions, reviewing the election process for shop stewards and outlining the process for receiving the medical subsidy.  Come to the meeting and pick up a copy of your contract as well!
Please join us on Wednesday, May 21st, 5:30-7:30, Newspaper Guild, 1500 Broadway, 9th floor.  Please RSVP by sending an email with your name. 

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

COCAL XI


COCAL XI in New York City
August 4-6, 2014

The eleventh COCAL Conference will be held Monday, August 4 through Wednesday, August 6 at John Jay College in New York City. ​Plenaries, ​forums ​and ​workshops ​will ​deal ​with ​problems ​faced ​by ​contingent ​faculty ​in ​higher ​education ​in ​the ​U.S., ​Canada ​and ​Mexico, ​as ​well ​well ​as ​around ​the ​globe. ​Possible ​solutions ​and ​actions ​will ​be ​planned.

Teachers at for-profit schools like us at Kaplan are highly encouraged to attend.

http://cocalinternational.org/

Details about the NYC COCAL conference

About COCAL:





Montreal March
(Photo by Vicki Smallman)

The Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor is a biennialconference and a network of North American activists working to improve higher education through the collective achievement of job reliability, livable wages, academic freedom, and time and resources for academic research and professional development for contingent academic laborers. COCAL is not affiliated with any single labor union and promotes grassroots contingent faculty organizing through events like Campus Equity Week. To achieve its aims, COCAL dedicates itself to alerting the broader community about the trends that undermine the tenets of higher education by staging media events, improving legislation concerning higher education and so-called accountability efforts, and identifying colleagues at institutions and assisting them in forming collective bargaining units and negotiating strong contracts.

Because COCAL’s world view recognizes that the fight for contingent faculty parallels the struggles of other contingent workers, many members also participate in The North American Alliance for Fair Employment (NAFFE), a broader network concerned about the growth of contingent work in general. COCAL sees the strength and freedom of faculty as a key to maintaining accessible, quality higher education and, ultimately, free inquiry for a democratic society.

http://cocalinternational.org/events.html

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Teachers Approve First Contract with Kaplan!



Press Release
Apr 17, 2014


Teachers at Kaplan International Centers, who teach English as a Second Language (ESL) and are members of TNG-CWA Local 31003, voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to ratify a first contract that would provide raises, workplace protections and a voice on the job.(*)

The teachers joined the Newspaper Guild of New York in June 2012 and are among a small handful of teachers in for-profit education who have union representation.(*)

"By banding together to form a union and taking bold steps to fight for a first contract that provides basic workplace protections, these teachers, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s, are an inspiration to their generation," said TNG-CWA Local 31001 President Bill O'Meara. "These are educated workers who knew they deserved more than they were getting and knew they needed a union to get it."(*)

The two-year contract includes a wage increase, access to a matching 401(k) plan, job security protections and more. It also would make some part-time teachers eligible for benefits for the first time.(*)

"I am proud that my colleagues voted to ratify this contract, and for their actions over the past two years demanding that Kaplan provide basic fairness to teachers," said Emily Lessem, a teacher who chairs the Guild unit at the school. "While this contract is far from perfect, it will provide job protections and benefits and have a powerful impact on Kaplan teachers in New York City and across the country."

Sunday, April 13, 2014

First Tentative Agreement with Management Reached; Teachers Will Vote This Wed. April 16

Guild in tentative agreement
with Kaplan on initial contract

The Guild reached a tentative contract with Kaplan International Centers yesterday that would provide protections and a voice in the workplace for its newest members. Kaplan Guild members will get to vote on the package on April 16.

Kaplan teachers initially sought out the Guild in hopes of ending what they saw as wrongful or mysterious terminations, and getting company-paid benefits. ESL teachers at Kaplan’s three New York City schools won union representation in June 2012 and have been at the bargaining table since November of that year seeking a contract. Most Kaplan teachers are part-timers with no paid vacations, holidays or sick time, and no medical insurance. If the tentative agreement is ratified, some of those part-time teachers will be eligible for those benefits.

The proposed deal is for a two-year contract and would provide:

·         “Just cause” language for terminations
·         A grievance and arbitration procedure
·         A clear progressive discipline process
·         Paid bereavement leave for all employees
·         A minimum hourly rate for all employees
·         Protections from subcontracting of work
·         Increase in the prep time rate to $12 per hour from the current $8 per hour (NYC minimum wage)
·         Creation of a new position, senior part-time teacher, which will be entitled to paid holidays, vacation and personal days
·         A company-paid subsidy of $20.33 per pay period toward the cost of health insurance for employees who purchased insurance coverage (pay-periods are bi-weekly)
·         A 401(k) matching contribution of 1 percent for part-time employees (currently, part-time employees are not eligible to participate in the 401(k) plan) 
·         A 401(k) matching contribution of 2 percent for full-time employees, with an increase to a match of 3 percent after five years of service.

The Guild bargaining committee wanted to address many other issues, especially issues that affect part-time teachers. The committee was hoping to achieve paid vacations, holidays and sick time for all part-timers but Kaplan management would not agree. In the end, Kaplan agreed to provide vacation and holiday pay only to the seven current full-time teachers and the new group of senior part-time teachers (15 individuals who will be promoted if the contract is ratified).  Due to a New York City sick leave law that took effect on April 1, all Kaplan employees now have paid sick time.

While this is not the contract the bargaining committee or the Guild had hoped for, it still has some good provisions that all the Kaplan Guild members can be proud of. 

In addition, the bold action taken by Kaplan’s New York teachers, who voted for Guild representation by a two-to-one margin, had a great impact on Kaplan schools across the country. Because New York teachers had the courage to step up and seek a voice in the workplace, Kaplan teachers across the country have realized increases in compensation for prep time and other duties, new part-time positions were created in schools outside of New York, and all part-timers have access to a 401(k) plan and matching contributions. 
So, while the contract is not perfect and not where we wanted to be, it is a step in the right direction and a solid base from which to build for our next negotiations. It will be up to all Kaplan teachers to maintain the resolve and commitment to be strong and united when bargaining for the next contract begins in 2016.

RATIFICATION VOTES SETRatification meetings have been set for April 16 at the Newspaper Guild of New York, 1500 Broadway, Suite 900. You will need a picture ID to gain entrance to the building. Please note the lobby is under construction and a temporary entrance is located on 43rd Street adjacent to the Brooklyn Diner. Meetings will be held at 10 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Only Guild members may attend, speak or vote at any of the meetings. If you are not a member, you may sign a membership card at the door before entering the meeting. If you can’t attend one of the scheduled meetings, you are welcome to stop by any time after 10 a.m. on April 16 to cast your vote. We have attached a PDF of the proposed contract so you may review it before the ratification meeting. You may also view it by clicking here.  If you have any questions please contact Guild Representative Anthony Napoli by email or phone at 212-730-1508. You also may contact any of the members of the bargaining committee whose names appear below.
Guild Bargaining Committee
Unit Chairperson Emily Lessem, Midtown - 917-817-4293
Shana Dagenhart, SoHo - 646-469-0325
Michael Bennett, SoHo - 917-743-8538Ben Bush, formerly from ESB 
Jon Blanchette, formerly from ESB - 347-619-3391
Jonathan Ellis, Midtown - 917-617-6870
Paul Hlava, SoHo - 
718-844-3964

Monday, April 7, 2014

Are Adjunct Professors the Fast-Food Workers of the Academic World?

A question to ask yourself:

As ESL teachers, working for a purely for-profit corporation...Do we, or even should we, categorize ourselves as "adjunct faculty"? 


It is true that most who officially bear the job title of adjunct faculty teach at public or private/non-profit institutions, many of which, (ok all of which) are institutions of far greater esteem than Kaplan. They also typically courses that earn students credits towards a college degree of some sorts.

However, before you answer this question, read through an article I came across just the other day. An excerpt:




Are Adjunct Professors the Fast-Food Workers of the Academic World?

By James Hoff
From The Guardian, Jan 24th, 2014




I am what's called an adjunct. I teach four courses per semester at two different colleges, and I am paid just $24,000 a year and receive no health or pension benefits. Recently, I was profiled in the New York Times [1] as the face of adjunct exploitation, and though I was initially happy to share my story because I care about the issue, the profile has its limits. Rather than use my situation to explain the systemic problem of academic labor, the article personalized – even romanticized – my situation as little more than the deferred dream of a struggling PhD with a penchant for poetry.

But the adjunct problem is not about PhDs struggling to find jobs or people being forced to give up their dreams. The adjunct problem is about the continued exploitation of a large, growing and diverse group of highly educated and dedicated college teachers who have been asked to settle for less pay (sometimes as little as $21,000 a year for full-time work) because the institutions they work for have callously calculated that they can get away with it. The adjunct problem is institutional, not personal, and its affects reach deep into our culture and society.

Though there are tens of thousands of personal stories like mine of economic hardship and lives ruined or put on hold, it is not to these stories that we should turn when we consider the exploitation of adjuncts in academia, but to our universal sense of justice. For the continued exploitation of adjuncts is, to put it bluntly, nothing less than unjust. Here's why:

Read the rest of the article HERE

Wow. Sound like a familiar eperience to any of you guys?

Now, having read through this article, let's return to the question at hand:

As ESL teachers, do we, or even should we, consider ourselves adjunct professors?  

As a particularly clever Englishman once said, "If an adjunct were not called an adjunct, would they not be any less exploited and underpaid?"

Or something like that.

The point is that the question, doesn't matter. What does matter however are the situations we both find ourselves in: Highly-skilled professionals, working difficult jobs in an industry with no lack of customer base, providing the very service that these customers shell out thousands of dollars for - yet being paid only just enough not to qualify for food stamps (unless you have a kid or two).  We must be doing our jobs passionately as well, because why else would someone with face all the challenges of being a teacher, just to take home the yearly salary of a restaurant worker? At least when I was washing dishes in I could listen to my discman (Electronic Skip Protection!), and take home a free meal every night.

The similarities are eerie, Too eerie, in fact.

I don't which came first, the chicken or the egg, but it's obvious now that the non-profits and for-profits are now just learning from each other - learning ways to deprive honest people of an honest living wage for an honest an worthwhile job done. But what I do know however is that the journey of the downward spiral into a world where 18K per year w/ out sick days or holiday pay simply just becomes what people expect out of a teaching job - is a journey that we share together. As Galileo began to reveal, and further solidified by Newton, and Einstein - Everything is relative.

One can't help what would become of these great minds had they been born in today's world. Would their genius have been enough to earn them passage from the purgatory that is the existence of an adjunct? Well, sure, probably. I mean, they were pretty damn smart of course. But how many of those of only slightly less genius, though still smart enough to make great significant contributions in the various fields of scientific research and education, simply have had to run away away from adjunct purgatory all together in order to pursue more mundane fields, robbing us of their possible contributions towards the greater good of mankind, but were done to out of necessity to put food on the table and shoes on their kids' feet?

I don't want to be disingenuous here however. There are differences in having a PhD in microbiology and lecturing at a major university is different than being a Kaplan ESL teacher. Many of us have an MA, but typically a BA is all that is required. A degree from a good university is worth a helluva lot more than a certificate from Kaplan Intl. Centers (although laws of relativity are still applicable of course; depending on the job desired, evidence one is proficient in English might be ten times more valuable than that MA in Art History).  However, our pay isn't based on how many courses we teach in a semester, we're straight wage per/hr workers. Part-time for us is around 25 teaching hours per week. We don't even have semesters even, we're open for business for the first 51 weeks of the year - then everybody gets laid off for a week from Christmas to New Year's eve.

I think, if nothing else, there's at least one to thing we could all agree with: We all know that there's nothing wrong with just wanting to be a teacher, and don't think our contributions to society merit a life of poverty.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Monday, January 6, 2014

Mugshots




Present Progressive No. 12 December 13 2013

Kaplan, school of hard noes, rejects whatever teachers ask


12/13/2013

Over and over at a Dec. 5 bargaining session, Kaplan negotiators said no to the marginal improvements in working conditions sought by a committee of Guild-represented English teachers.
On issues big and small, the answers were pretty much the same, no matter what the questions were. It was no to severance pay for layoffs (except those with less than a week’s notice), no to guaranteeing that probationary and temporary teachers would be laid off before any regular full- or part-timers, no to agreeing not to subcontract teaching work, no to arbitration rights on key issues and no to an “evergreen clause” that would keep the contract in effect after expiration during negotiations for a new one.

BARGAINING UPDATE

What about holiday pay for the 90 percent of Kaplan teachers who work part time?
“We have addressed holidays,” said Kaplan management lead negotiator Patricia Dunn.
“You said no,” replied Guild Rep. Anthony Napoli.
“That’s right,” said Dunn.
And so it went. Because of Kaplan’s just-say-no stance, its inability to provide much-needed information on health insurance and its refusal to respond to wage proposals the Guild made on Oct. 25, the session ended before lunch, with Guild negotiators demanding that management come back with health insurance information and a counterproposal on key economic issues – and noting that “no” is not a counterproposal.
No new bargaining date was set.

HEALTH CARE DATA STILL MISSING

Kaplan’s inability to provide key information about health care, which it blamed on its third party vendor, Augeo Benefits, is holding up the Guild’s consideration of management’s proposal that would provide a path to coverage for part-time employees who do not qualify for full-time insurance. Under its proposal, the company would provide a modest subsidy to part-time employees, which they could apply to their premiums after accessing public and private insurance exchanges through Augeo.

When pressed on why Augeo wasn’t providing the requested information, Kaplan legal counsel Stephanie Hart said, “It’s not like a real insurance company. They’re a clearing house.” 
Hart expressed frustration with Augeo’s inability to provide information for services employees will be legally required to sign up for by March. But Dunn reminded Guild negotiators, “We don’t have to do this, nor do we have to subsidize the medical plan.” She said Kaplan employees can go find their own insurance on the exchanges if they don’t like what Kaplan is offering.

SIX TECHNICAL, UNIMPORTANT COUNTERPROPOSALS

Negotiators for Kaplan International Colleges (KIC) offered six counterproposals to earlier Guild proposals, but they were mostly highly technical and of little significance. KIC is a substantial entity within Kaplan, which now comprises most of Graham Holdings Co. [NYSE: GHC], the successor to the Washington Post Co. following the company’s recent sale of The Washington Post newspaper.

One of KIC management’s counterproposals merely reinforced the existing right of both parties to pursue legal action through the courts or the National Labor Relations Board, as opposed to resolving disputes through the more efficient arbitration process, which the Guild prefers. Management has repeatedly refused to subject many key contract provisions to arbitration, instead wanting discretion to do whatever it wants while leaving Guild-represented teachers with only the cumbersome court system to dispute any breeches of the contract.
On layoff procedures, the Guild had proposed requiring that temporary and probationary workers be dismissed before regular part-time or full-time teachers. The Guild’s proposal also included severance pay for laid-off employees based on length of service. But in its counterproposal, Kaplan refused to guarantee that it would lay off temporary and probationary employees before other employees. It also provided no severance pay except in cases where a worker had been laid off with less than one week’s notice, in which case Kaplan would agree to provide one week’s pay. The layoffs in question are different than Kaplan’s routine cutting of classes at periods of low enrollment.
On determining which part-timers would qualify for company-provided health coverage under the new federal health care law, the company rejected a Guild proposal that there be joint agreement on nailing down a measuring period of weekly work hours that currently ranges from six to 12 months, demanding instead that management have the final say on the length of the measuring period.

The Guild Bargaining Committee of Kaplan Teachers

Emily Lessem, Unit Chair
Michael Bennett
Jon Blanchette
Ben Bush
Shana Dagenhart
Jon Ellis