You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.
A part-time English instructor at Olympic College in Washington has filed a formal complaint with the National Education Association, alleging that his full-time colleagues retaliated against him for speaking out against a state bill that would benefit them but hurt adjuncts. "My treatment by the [Washington Education Association] calls into question the determination and ability of the WEA to provide fair and equal representation to the overwhelming majority (10,000) of the professors who teach 'part-time' in Washington's community and technical college system," the instructor, Jack Longmate, wrote in an April 5 letter to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. (In Washington, adjuncts are referred to as part-timers, even if some of them work full-time when all of their courses at various campuses are added together. Tenured and tenure-track professors are considered full-time.)
"The WEA has not acknowledged or addressed the serious and unmitigated conflicts of interest that exist between the part-timers, who lack any job security," continued Longmate, "and the full-timers, who have tenure and serve as their de facto supervisors."
Longmate, who was the subject of an earlier article in Inside Higher Ed, testified -- not as a union representative -- in February in front of the House Education Committee of the Washington State House of Representatives against a bill favored by the union. That bill would establish a way for the state to pay for salary increases for faculty members in the state's 34 community and technical colleges. In his letter to Van Roekel, Longmate said that his Washington colleagues censured him for coming out against a union-backed bill, demanded he resign as secretary of the campus chapter of the Association for Higher Education and rescinded his per diem and lodging for a union lobby day -- and didn't allow him a chance to defend himself. Longmate asked Van Roekel to establish a trusteeship over the Washington chapter to redress what he alleges are violations of its constitution and bylaws, and to bring in a third party to conduct an impartial investigation. Longmate contended that the issues brought forth in his complaint reflect systemic conflicts of interest between full-time and part-time faculty, and he asked the NEA to review its contracts to ensure compliance with its duty of fair representation.
The NEA was not immediately able to comment.
