IN SUPPORT OF ADJUNCT FACULTY AT EAST-WEST UNIVERSITY

WHEREAS improving the working conditions of underpaid and under-supported contingent faculty is a major priority of the American Federation of Teachers Faculty and College Excellence (FACE) Campaign;

WHEREAS the right to form a union to bargain collectively with the employer has been critical to improving the working conditions of contingent faculty members across the country;

WHEREAS in an effort to improve their working conditions through the collective bargaining process, the adjunct faculty of East-West University in Chicago, Illinois, working with the Illinois Education Association, organized and filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (Board) on May 26, 2010;

WHEREAS immediately after the election petition was filed, all adjunct faculty received a letter from the University chancellor Mohammad Wasiullah Khan indicating that no adjunct faculty members would have their employment contracts renewed for the summer term and that all adjunct faculty member seeking employment in the fall term would be required to meet with the chancellor before he or she is hired;

WHEREAS such unwarranted strong-arm anti-union tactics are meant to intimidate employees and interfere with their democratic right to vote for union representation;

WHEREAS due to these actions many adjunct faculty members have lost their jobs and fear that future employment is in jeopardy if they are seen in support of the union;

WHEREAS the union has been forced, for a time, to withdraw the election petition from the Board; therefore, be it

RESOLVED that AFT denounce the anti-union actions of East-West University and do so in writing to East-West University administration; and be it further

RESOLVED that AFT call upon the East-West University administration to cease its intimidation practices immediately and work responsibly through the law to permit a democratic union election to go forward.