CCAC adjunct faculty joins AFTPA

PITTSBURGH — The adjunct faculty of the Community College of Allegheny County chose overwhelmingly today to unionize with the American Federation of Teachers. Adjunct faculty voted 394-64, or 86 percent, in favor of joining the AFT. CCAC has more than 800 adjunct faculty members.

“Organizing with the AFT has shown that as faculty, we have the power to create change at our 

college. The support we’ve built among adjunct and full-time colleagues at CCAC and with AFT members across the country demonstrates how vital unions are to all of us,” said Luke Niebler, adjunct professor in the English department of CCAC.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten commented, “On behalf of the 1.6 million members of the AFT and the 70,000 part-time faculty in our higher education division, I welcome CCAC adjuncts to the largest union of faculty—and of adjuncts—in the country. Throughout their campaign, adjuncts shared their concerns about jobs security, wages and reclaiming their voice; we are thrilled they’ve chosen to pursue them using their collective voice as new members of the AFT. Our CCAC members’ work exemplifies what it means to reclaim the promise of higher education, both for the students and community members they serve and for the part-time faculty who are the new majority of the instructional workforce.”

Jennie Snyder, adjunct professor in the art department of CCAC since 2007 said, “I am doing everything I can do to make sure the next generation of teachers doesn’t inherit a system in which they have no job security, no benefits, unsustainable pay and no voice at work. Joining AFT is a big step in the right direction.”

CCAC adjuncts teach the majority of classes at the college. They will join the full-time faculty as AFT union members. The full-time faculty at CCAC has been unionized for more than 40 years.

"AFT Pennsylvania congratulates the adjunct faculty at Community College of Allegheny College on organizing and winning union representation," Ted Kirsch, president of the statewide teachers' union, said. "We were particularly encouraged that CCAC's administration recognized adjunct faculty members' democratic right to hold a union election, unlike the administration at Temple University in Philadelphia. Temple’s administration has argued, stalled and interfered to prevent the adjunct faculty there from holding a union election."

AFT Pennsylvania, with 26,000 members statewide, represents the faculty at seven Pennsylvania community colleges, two private universities and faculty and graduate student assistants at Temple University. 

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