Conference Papers for COCAL VI

This is a listing of the papers which have been submitted, now organized according strategy session.

To download a PDF of any paper, click on the PDF icon () or on "Paper."

To see an abstract, click on that term (all the abstracts are at the bottom of this page).

Strategy Session I, Metro/Local/Regional Strategies

Joe Berry, " A Chicago Example of the Metro Organizing Strategy for Contingent Faculty" Abstract Paper
Marie Blais, "Creating a united front: Coordinating the 2003-2004 negotiations of university sessionals affiliated to the FNEEQ-CSN (Quebec)" Paper
(revised) Elizabeth Hoffman and John Hess, "Contingent Faculty Organizing in CFA - 1975-2005" Paper
Richard Schneirov: "Investing in Indiana: New Priorities for Quality Education" Abstract Paper

Strategy Session II, National and International Strategies for Our Movement

Michael Dembrow and David Rives, "Best Practices for Assuring the Rights of Part-Time Faculty within Unions" Paper
(revised) Craig Flanery, "Trinational Planning for COCAL-North America: Time for a Central Coordinator and Trinational Effort to Support Locals?" Paper
(revised) John Lloyd, "Outsource U? Globalization, Knowledge Work, and the Contingent Academic Labor Movement": Abstract Paper
Robert Samuels, "A Call for A National Union of Non-Tenure Track Faculty Teaching in America" Abstract Paper

Strategy Session III, Our Ultimate Vision, the Place of Our Struggle in the Broader Society

Ronald Cameron, "What Is the Future of Teachers' Struggles in Higher Education" Paper
Juan Ramón Jiménez de León, "El Lumpen proletariado intelectual" Paper
Richard Moser, "Campus Democracy, Community, and Academic Citizenship" Paper
Arturo Ramos Peréz, "El Trabajo Académico y el Condicionamiento Salarial en la Educación Superior" Paper
Vincent Tirelli, "Trench Scholars: The Place of Contingent Academic Labor in Social Class Conflict" Abstract Paper
María Teresa Lechuga Trejo, "Flexibilización del Trabajo en la Educación Pública Superior" Paper
Steve Wilson, "An Overview of the Contingent Faculty Environment" Paper

Conference Paper Abstracts

Joe Berry, " A Chicago Example of the Metro Organizing Strategy for Contingent Faculty"

Organizing of contingent faculty is in the stage of movement-building. It requires in-depth research and analysis of the workforce, activity both inside and outside existing organizations, and possibly, the creation of independent, intermediate organizations. A proposal for a metro strategy for the Chicago area contingent faculty workforce explores these requirements as an example.

John Lloyd, "Outsource U? Globalization, Knowledge Work, and the Contingent Academic Labor Movement"

John Lloyd
Lecturer, History Department, Cal Poly Pomona
Contingent faculty activist, California Faculty Association

As corporations increasingly used "temp" workers in the 1990s, higher education followed suit, shifting more faculty work to "contingent" or "temporary" faculty. The trend in the corporate world has now turned to the outsourcing or "offshoring" of knowledge work. Will cash-strapped administrators in higher education follow corporate America’s lead once again? There are some ominous signs that suggest they will. While the full force of this trend has yet to hit the academic world, there is no reason to think it will be immune to the temptation to lower labor costs and increase "flexibility" by outsourcing or offshoring contingent academic labor. What does this possibility portend for contingent academics? For the contingent academic labor movement? This paper outlines this trend, offers some suggestions, and hopes to provoke a discussion about long-term strategies for the future.

Robert Samuels, "A Call for A National Union of Non-Tenure Track Faculty Teaching in America"

The fundamental goal of this paper is to discuss several strategies for transforming the employment practices of higher education in the United States. Many of these strategies grow out of my experience as a union president at UCLA and as a bargaining team member for the state-wide University of California, American Federation of Teacher’s Union (UC-AFT) representing over 3,000 non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF). Over the past six years, I have studied over 200 hundred union contracts representing faculty in America, and I have also analyzed the employment status and working conditions of teachers working outside of the tenure system. I have used my knowledge of collective bargaining and employment practices to help write and successfully negotiate a new contract for the University of California, and I would like to use my experience in California to help articulate the possibilities and problems regarding the growing utilization of non-tenure track faculty in the United States. In particular, I will make a call for the need for a national union that would organize all faculty, including graduate students, who are working outside of the tenure system.

Richard Schneirov

Based on AAUP's new national policy document, this paper develops a proposal for a project to organize and upgrade the conditions of contingent faculty in Indiana's community college system. The proposal offers a two-track strategy for a public interest-oriented approach, which may be the most suitable for organizing in states like Indiana that lack collective bargaining laws.

Vincent Tirelli

In order to better understand the possibilities for contingent academic labor organizing, it is imperative that we have an understanding of the role that social class has had in shaping the university. It is hoped that this brief excavation of power will help us to develop the insights necessary to act effectively.

To find out more about submitting a paper of your own, consult the Call for Papers, available in several formats:

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PDF (English)

en el Internet (español)

PDF (español)

Last revised on August 31, 2004 by the Webmaster.