Pittsburgh Labor Board finds in favor of Duquesne Adjuncts

Source: New Pittsburgh Courier

PITTSBURGH – The Pittsburgh regional office of the National Labor Relations Board issued a decision June 5 ordering that Duquesne University recognize the Adjunct Faculty Association of the United Steelworkers as the collective bargaining representative of part-time faculty at Duquesne’s McAnulty College of Liberal Arts. Part-time faculty at the College voted overwhelmingly to organize with the AFA-USW in 2012.

Although some of Duquesne’s employees are represented by several other unions, Duquesne claimed that recognizing the AFA-USW would infringe on its religious liberty. The Board’s Pittsburgh office held a hearing April 27-29 to determine whether the Board would require Duquesne to abide by the results of the 2012 election. Today, the Regional Director of the Pittsburgh office sided with the adjuncts in her decision and rejected Duquesne’s religious objection.

Strikingly, Duquesne presented no testimony at the hearing from part-time faculty, no testimony from anyone who hired or supervised part-time faculty, and no testimony from anybody who interacted with part-time faculty on a regular basis. Not one of Duquesne’s witnesses was even able to estimate the number of part-time faculty at the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts. Apparently, even at a hearing at which part-time faculty were the central issue, Duquesne prefers to treat part-time faculty as though they are invisible.

Duquesne pays its part-time faculty $4,000 per 3-credit course (as of Fall 2015), with a maximum of $16,000 per year. The federal poverty threshold for one person with one child is $16,317. By contrast, full-time faculty pay averages $13,295 per course to do the same work.

FULL story at link.



Fr. Lou Vallone

Read more: http://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/2015/06/07/pittsburgh-labor-board-finds-in-favor-of-duquesne-adjuncts/