The PSC negotiated a historic salary increase for Teaching Adjuncts in the current contract. In addition to across-the-board raises from 2018 to 2021, two other provisions add up to the largest salary increase for adjuncts in the union’s history and represent one of the largest adjunct salary increases in any contract nationally. The first is the paid office hour for every course, which took effect in spring 2020, and the second will begin this fall when a new, higher single rate for each teaching adjunct title is introduced. While we have not yet achieved full adjunct equity, the current contract represents a major advance.
Effective August 25, 2022, a new structure for Teaching Adjunct compensation begins with a single hourly rate for each title, with one important exception: Teaching Adjuncts whose hourly rate on August 25, 2022 is higher than the new single rate will continue to be paid at that rate and receive a 2% increase on November 1, 2022. The Teaching Adjunct salary schedule shows how the change will work. In other words, Teaching Adjuncts in any title who would otherwise have made a higher salary than the single rate will be held harmless, their higher salary maintained.
Check your current hourly rate of pay and payroll history if you are teaching this fall, so that your salary is accurate when the new rates come into effect. If you believe your current rate of pay is incorrect, notify your college Human Resources Office to make sure the correction is made before August 25. Your future rate of pay will depend on your rate as of August 24 until a new contract is negotiated.
Despite the union’s efforts to ensure compliance with Article 24.2, governing movement in adjunct salary steps, CUNY colleges do not always move adjuncts up when they should. PSC leadership has worked with CUNY management this spring to monitor compliance, but experience shows that there may still be errors. Please check your salary history before August 25 for consistency with the contractual provision for movement in steps and ensure that you are properly compensated.
Teaching Adjuncts for whom the single rate applies will see an increase of up to 18 percent in their rate of pay. Teaching Adjuncts for whom the single rate does not apply, because their rate of pay is higher, will have their rate of pay “red-circled.” It will continue to be calculated on the basis of their teaching hours, including office hours, multiplied by their higher “red-circled” hourly rate. Along with other CUNY salary rates, that rate will increase by 2 percent on November 1, 2022.
The union negotiated the new structure to maximize the total increase in Teaching Adjunct pay and apply a significant increase to lower salary steps in each title, where most adjuncts are concentrated. Under the new structure, rather than waiting years to move slowly up the salary steps, Teaching Adjuncts move immediately to a single hourly rate that is significantly higher than the highest rate in the previous contract. At the same time, all Teaching Adjuncts will see an increase by November, even if their current rate of pay is higher than the new single rate. The chart below outlines the new single rates for each Teaching Adjunct title and compensation for a 3-credit and 4-credit course.
The current contract substantially narrows the gap in pay between a full-time Lecturer and Adjunct Lecturer for an equivalent teaching load. The CUNY Board of Trustees’ recognition that current adjuncts should fill some of the new full-time faculty lines reflects the fact that our contract has diminished the economic incentive to rely on adjunct labor. The current contract provides the groundwork on which future efforts are made to achieve fair wages for all and crack the prevailing exploitative system. With a more stable instructional workforce, students benefit from having professors who are well compensated and better able to provide them with the support they need to thrive.
Teaching Adjuncts, please check the salary schedules to determine your appropriate step! And if you know any colleagues who have not yet joined their union, please direct them to https://psc-cuny.org/join-psc. To make the gains that we and our students deserve, the PSC must be united around a strong union membership.
In solidarity,
James Davis, President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY
