A new article from Splinter News spotlights Florida adjunct professors and their growing demand for a union The massive organizing movement underway at Florida’s college system has so far resulted in more than 7,000 adjunct professors joining SEIU-Florida Public Services Union in the past three years.
“Many issues are connected. The labor movement and coming together with our colleagues is a fight for justice. It’s a fight for racial justice. It’s a fight for equality,” said Steven Chapman, an adjunct professor at Miami Dade College. “If you have an institution that only hires and focuses on adjuncts, you don’t have opportunities for mentorships with students during office times… if that [teacher] isn’t available, or if they’re not supported by the administration and the school, then there’s a huge gap in the relationship between the professor and the student. I think that really does more to exacerbate the inequality in education.”
In the face of chronic higher education defunding, adjunct professors are joining the wave of Florida educators organizing for fully-funded college for all, student loan forgiveness and a $15 an hour minimum wage and a union for all campus employees. This past spring semester, Miami Dade College and Lake Sumter State College adjunct professors became the fifth and sixth groups to form their union in the sunshine state. They joined their colleagues at Hillsborough Community College, Broward College, the University of South Florida and Seminole State College, who have already formed their unions with SEIU’s FPSU Faculty Forward in Florida.
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