Union representing part-time URI faculty may picket over stalled contract talks

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The union representing most of the University of Rhode Island’s part-time faculty plans to picket the governor’s office by early July if stalled contract talks have not resumed in earnest by then, union leaders said this week.
About 450 of the university’s 500 part-time instructors have been without a renewed contract for three years.
The union, Part-Time Faculty United, formed in 2010. Its first and only contract ran from July 1, 2010 until June 30, 2012. That contract is still in force in the absence of a renewal, said Patricia Maguire, the union’s executive director, and Dorothy F. Donnelly.
Donnelly is chief negotiator and a URI professor emerita of English and Comparative Literature.
“We haven’t had a negotiating session since last December – six months ago,” Donnelly said, explaining why the union showed up Wednesday night at a meeting of the Council on Postsecondary Education.
The council was slated to take up the union’s contract in executive session, which did occur, but no action was taken publicly outside of the closed, confidential meeting, said Robin McGill, interim communications officer with the Office of Postsecondary Commissioner Jim Purcell.
In emailed statements, Purcell and the university said talks are active, though neither could comment in detail because of ongoing negotiations.
“I can confirm that we are in the mediation phase, where a mediator facilitates a resolution between the two sides,” Purcell said. “The council is eager to maintain the integrity of this process, and we hope the matter will resolve soon.”
URI reiterated the importance of part-time faculty to the university, saying, in part: “The University of Rhode Island values the vital role that adjunct and part-time faculty play in delivering a high-quality education to our students. The professionals who commit their time to teaching our students offer a wide variety of expertise and experience that serves our students well …. We are hopeful these negotiations will continue and that a contract will be signed as soon as possible.”
Meantime, union leaders and one faculty member say that more than 25 grievances have been filed.
About 366 supporters have also signed an online petition calling for a resolution to the stalemate.
Maguire and Donnelly noted that the part-time faculty base wage of $3,548 is not much higher than the $3,200 base wage for a three-credit course taught over a 15-week semester that was in place 13 years ago.
Kenneth Jolicoeur, a part-time URI faculty member since 1985, and also a longtime faculty member at Rhode Island College, filed a grievance in September of 2013 after the university eliminated his contractual part-staff hours. He said the university stated he had too many hours, but privately told him it had concerns about potentially having to provide health benefits when federal health care laws were changing.
The university said it could not comment further.
“The atmosphere is so antagonistic,” Jolicoeur said. “It was always a great place up until about five years ago. I shudder to think how much worse it would have been if we didn’t have a union.”

No posts to display