As members of the Northeastern Adjunct Faculty Organizing Committee, we want to tell you about our union campaign and the ways in which we believe our effort will benefit the entire Northeastern University community.

To adjunct faculty:

We know that the undervaluation of our contributions as professional educators to Northeastern has produced a fundamental unfairness in our working conditions. Individually, it is difficult to address inequalities or advocate for change. When we organize, however, we will gain a say in addressing issues of fairness in our compensation, benefits eligibility and job security, and be included more equitably in decisions that affect our lives at work. We are organizing not just at Northeastern, but with our colleagues at campuses throughout Greater Boston – some of whom have already come together to form unions. We are all part of a growing regional and national movement of part-time faculty standing up for better working conditions and for improvements to higher education. We encourage you to sign and mail in a union authorization card at nuadjuncts.org.

To our students:

You are the reason that we teach. We are privileged to help you explore innovative solutions to familiar problems, discuss current and pressing questions confronting emerging professionals and develop practical skills and abilities that will serve you throughout your lives and careers. Most of you probably do not know that we are hired semester-to-semester with no job security and no affordable health insurance. It is good that, from your perspective, there is no difference in your learning experience between being taught by a full-timer or by an adjunct. But we want to eliminate all potential barriers to your learning and growth as students at this wonderful university. That means that all of the faculty should have a livable salary, reasonable job security and pay for all of the time that they work. Our working conditions are your learning conditions. We encourage you to sign the Student Petition of Support at nuadjuncts.org and ask your friends to do the same.

To the parents of our students:

Parents who entrust their children to Northeastern University expect resources to be focused on the area that most affects their experience: the classroom. But today, most university teaching in the United States is done by adjunct professors, who are inadequately paid, without benefits and without job security of any kind. A union of adjunct faculty will negotiate with the university to fix these problems, so that students and their families will be assured of receiving the highest quality of education as possible. If you are alumni, we encourage you to sign the Alumni Letter of Support at nuadjuncts.org and ask your fellow alumni to do the same.

To our full-time colleagues:

We share the same goals of quality education for our students along with a rich, fulfilling and sustainable professional life for us as teachers. As long as Northeastern can pay us far less money than they can pay you, there will always be a downward pressure on your pay and benefits. And Northeastern will be tempted to increase adjunct positions while further limiting full-time ones. We support high-quality jobs and the improvement of pay and benefits for all Northeastern employees. We hope that you will support us by signing the Full-Time Letter of Support on nuadjuncts.org and encouraging the adjuncts that you know to sign a union authorization card.

To the NU administration:

We are proud to be affiliated with this institution and are committed to working alongside you to provide outstanding education and strengthen the Northeastern community. Our combined efforts to achieve these goals rely on your willingness to work with us as a group to build and maintain a relationship characterized by recognition, respect and equality. We ask that you demonstrate your confidence in our values, abilities and our commitment to this institution by ending all efforts to interfere with or dissuade us from the goal of building a strong and representative union for adjunct faculty at Northeastern.

-The NEU Adjunct Faculty Organizing Committee