Champlain College School of Business. Champlain photo.
Vermont Business Magazine Champlain College and campus-based adjunct faculty, represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), ratified a multi-year contract agreement on Saturday resulting in the College’s first contract with the union. It was ratified by a majority vote and will go into effect this fall. The new minimum pay rates for campus-based adjunct faculty, assuming satisfactory performance, will rise from $3,499 to $3,825. Adjuncts who qualify as senior adjunct faculty will see pay rates of $4,100 to $4,200, an increase over the prior rates of $3,499-$3,688. Pay rates are set to increase 2.5 percent and 2.0 percent effective September 1, 2017 and 2018 respectively.
"We appreciate the constructive and deliberate dialogue that has led to this win-win result," said Champlain’s Provost and Senior Vice President for Academics Laurie Quinn. "We take pride in the fact that all Champlain faculty members are deeply committed to teaching, and this significant investment in our adjunct faculty upholds those important values."
The three-year agreement continues to provide a tiered pay scale based on length of service and performance with the underlying metric shifting from semesters taught to course credits. “This tiered pay scale approach ensures that those adjunct faculty who successfully teach more of our students will receive increased levels of pay,” Quinn noted.
“The first union contract acknowledges the national agenda of the SEIU while maintaining our positive Champlain culture of respecting adjunct faculty members as part of our teaching community,” added Quinn. “The College is pleased with this three-year agreement that significantly increases part-time faculty pay, creates a new professional development fund, and strengthens evaluation of teaching performance to keep the collective focus on a great experience for our students.”
Included in the contract is a new fund to support the ongoing professional development of adjunct faculty to ensure high-quality academic experiences for students. The College will allocate $10,000 in FY17, $15,000 in FY18 and $20,000 in FY19. Adjunct faculty can apply for up to $750 in funds to support professional development on a first come, first-served basis.
The agreement also allows for a $1,000 payment for courses that are cancelled due to insufficient enrollment or other reasons, following an accepted formal offer to teach. Additional provisions include an enhanced teaching evaluation process proposed by the College to ensure continued teaching excellence.
No additional medical, retirement or vacation benefits currently awarded to full-time faculty and staff are provided to adjunct faculty. They will continue to have access to all benefits in place prior to unionization, including the opportunity to invest in 403(b) retirement plans with pretax dollars, access to Champlain campus facilities, free CCTA bus rides, a discounted 25-meal plan and one free audited course per calendar year on a space available basis.
The agreement caps a two-year process that included two summer mediation sessions, between the College and representatives of the Service Employees International Union. The adjunct faculty members voted to join the SEIU in October 2014.
Champlain College
Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain and more than 60 online undergraduate and graduate degree programs and certificates. Champlain's distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 381 Colleges: 2017 Edition. Champlain College is featured in the "Fiske Guide to Colleges" for 2016 as one of the "best and most interesting schools" in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Champlain was named the #1 “Most Innovative School” in the North by the U.S. News and World Report’s 2016 “America’s Best Colleges and #14 in the overall list of “Best Regional Colleges in the North. For more information, visit www.champlain.edu.
Source: BURLINGTON, Vt. (Sept. 5, 2017) – Champlain College