Something you can do for justice ...

 

San Francisco's University of San Francisco, a private Jesuit school, claims a high-minded mission. It advertises its commitment to and activism for social, racial, and economic justice on poles all around 24th St. and Mission.

But these admonitions ring hollow when you look beyond the nice words. They don't extend to the 600 part-time professors who teach close to half its classes and have been central to keeping USF running during the pandemic.

The Part Time Faculty Association (PTFA) has been in contract negotiations with the USF administration since July 2021. Although the University has been looking at an operating surplus of more than $26 million in 2021, their first offer was to cut the part-timers teachers' pay. When the news of the university's pandemic windfall came to light, management still refused to consider PTFA's extremely modest proposal for a 2% salary increase per year over the next two years. 

 

With inflation running above 7% per year, knowing they are sitting pretty financially, they are offering only a pay freeze which really amounts to a pay cut. And part timers still have hardly any advancement path regardless of qualifications and little job security.

Now the administration has simply stopped negotiating -- the PTFA has filed a complaint of "unfair labor practice" with the federal National Labor Relations Board.

Part time instructors should not have to beg for basic fairness and justice.

Please send a message to President Father Paul Fitzgerald and Provost Chinyere Oparah!

Ask them to do the right thing for part-time faculty at USF. Ask them to send their team back to the table and negotiate a fair contract! They need to hear from a broader community.

Click here to send a letter.