PART-TIME TEACHER ORGANIZING DRIVES

WHEREAS, the cutbacks in all federal aid to education by the Reagan Administration have resulted in courses, programs, and sometimes even entire departments being dropped in colleges, junior colleges, and vocational-technical institutions; and

WHEREAS, many post-secondary institutions have instituted freezes in hiring full-time or tenure-track faculty; and

WHEREAS, many of these institutions are using increasing numbers of part-time teachers to fill positions vacated due to retirement or death; and

WHEREAS, in some cases there are entire programs, departments and even some entire junior colleges staffed solely by part-time teachers; and

WHEREAS, these part-time teachers are paid below a subsistence level, often with no health insurance, retirement benefits, and usually with no job security; and

WHEREAS, as long as part-time teachers remain without a union, without a collective bargaining agreement, and without a decent income, there is an economic incentive for management to replace full-time teaching positions with part-timers; and

WHEREAS, because of the loss of full-time teaching positions, many local unions and state federations are having severe economic problems:

RESOLVED, that the AFT reaffirms its commitment in assisting local unions in their drives to organize part-time teachers. (Executive Council)