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[moonyprof]

 My union voted to agree to two-day-a-month furloughs for an entire year.  There's absolutely nothing nice to say about this:  I think it was a superlatively dumb move to make without any concessions or conditions, like reduced layoffs or decreased student fees, or maybe even the execs forgoing their car allowances for a while.  I don't want to

Comments

[chibitoaster]

I come from a family of educators. It really sucks when you're stuck with a union that doesn't listen to the members.

*sigh*

Still, times are tough. I'm lucky to live in a place where there are a lot of colleges and universities and therefore a lot of teaching jobs to be had. I only wish I had more time for it.

Well, good luck! I hope it's not a long-term thing. We're hearing a lot of news about how bad it is in California right now. :\

[moonyprof]

It's going to be for at least a year, because that's what we agreed to: 2009-10. The union did listen to the members, kinda, it's just that more of the members were afraid of what would happen if they didn't vote for the furloughs. I can't blame them. Most of them stitch together work at several different colleges, so they'd rather take a pay cut than lose their jobs.

I predict they will lose their jobs anyhow. If the cost of attending goes up and enrollment is cut by 40,000 students, there will be fewer students overall; fewer students, fewer classes; fewer classes, fewer jobs. They're also planning on increasing class sizes (see above).

I was hoping to make the Chancellor agree to preserve a certain number of jobs, or even to keep people on healthcare if necessary before agreeing to a pay cut, but no.

Theoretically, I could be laid off too. But in practical terms, it would be hard to do. I'm tenured with a few years seniority, and I'm in a big department (English.)

[chibitoaster]

That whole "stitching together work" thing? I know it all too well, myself. Until I get my MFA, that's pretty much what I have to do to supplement my regular job in the slow times.

And yeah, layoffs seem inevitable at this point. Although there's a lot of optimism in the news (i.e. things are not getting worse as quickly as they were a few months ago), the end is not yet in sight.

As far as the college where I work is concerned, they've just been cutting back on adjunct faculty this year. Not so much on the number of them, but some who used to have two classes now have one. Some who were around for 3-credit courses now have 1- and 2- credit courses. It's sad to see it happen (especially since there are a few of them who drive from on end of the city to the other every other day), but at least it's something.

I work in the continuing education department, though, since I don't have my MFA yet. And that has been drastically cut. This fall/winter season, there are only a handful of classes. It's actually bad enough that I've backed

[moonyprof]

The class cuts are horrible, too. The President of my school cut the *entire summer session* on the last day of spring classes. No, I did not mis-type that. I'm sure in September I will have even more than the usual number of students on the verge of tears, explaining that they need this class to graduate. Time to degree is increasing, too.

Where I am, if you're adjunct faculty, you get healthcare if you have a certain course load. If it dips below that, then suddenly you don't have healthcare coverage any more. That was top on my list of Stuff We Want to Prevent.

Oh, well. Let's hope for the best. I'm glad my specialty is literature. If I'm going to be un- or underemployed, at least I can be unemployed doing something I enjoy.

[chibitoaster]

That's about where I am in my career. No, I'm not in anything as glorious as a design firm or a staff illustrator for a publishing house (is there even such a creature anymore?). I work at a grocery store that values artists, and hires two of us to do any of the signs and illustrations needed for the store