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September 1, 2024
Dear St. John's faculty colleagues,
Happy Labor Day! It's time for your annual renewal as a St. John's AAUP chapter member. Not a member yet? Then it's time to join.
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2023-2024 was a very productive year for our chapter. In August 2023, we signed a new contract with (1) meaningful raises for full-time faculty, (2) historic adjunct faculty stipend increases, and (3) a health care premium reimbursement. In the year since then, we received two grants from the national AAUP/AFT, expanded communications, held public education sessions on health care, and hosted contract issue listening sessions for all faculty in May 2024.
When we negotiate a new contract with the University this coming year, your support will make our voice at the table stronger. Please join or renew, and also consider becoming involved in our union. Start by joining us at our first AAUP General Meeting online on Monday, September 23 from 1:50-3:15.
To renew or update your chapter membership, please log in to your profile at the link above, log in with your email and password and follow the suggested actions on your profile screen. If you do not know your password, you can reset it on that page by clicking "Forget Password".
Please be sure to check your profile where it says "Membership Level" to see that you are choosing the correct rate.
For full-time faculty, we ask that you choose the membership level according to your appropriate rank. If you feel the need to contribute less, we ask that you choose the Base Contribution.
Current membership rates are:
$30 - Adjunct Faculty
$60 - Assistant Professor/Instructor (Base Contribution)
$80 - Associate Professor (Suggested)
$100 - Full Professor (Suggested)
If you have just renewed, or your chapter membership is current, then you should not have received this message. In that case, please contact rosenthd@stjohns.edu to get it straightened out.
Our ability to fight for a fair contract relies on strong membership. Joining the SJU-AAUP isn't just about paying dues, it's even more about showing the administration that we stand united as a faculty. Scholarship & Solidarity!
Sincerely,
Your St. John’s AAUP Chapter
June 21, 2024
December 29, 2023
September 1, 2023
Congratulations to all St. John's faculty! We signed our 2023-2025 contract on August 16, 2023.
See the full Collective Bargaining Agreement here (CBA 2022-25) and the revised Statutes here (July 2023). Both passed by a vote of almost 9 to 1 (509 yes votes; 57 no).
The university is then required to pay retroactive payments for last year‘s raises within 45 days, by the Oct 1st pay period at the latest, but the university will likely do so before. Thanks for your support!
Adjunct Health Assistance
The administration continues to provide annual health insurance assistance to adjuncts who teach regularly at St. John's. Payments may be up to $1500 a year. Faculty must apply by January 31st each year. Here is a link to the short application form, which must be notarized. Contact Mirian Cepeda (cepedam@stjohns.edu) at Human Resources if you have questions---it is an easy process to apply.
Here are the qualifications, according to the Human Resources office:
(1) The adjunct must be a “continuing adjunct” as defined in the contract—see “Appendix C”, basically having taught two consecutive semesters.
(2) They must complete a notarized certification no later than January 31 of the year following the year they request the reimbursement. So if they are applying for academic year 2023-24 they have until January 31, 2024 to apply. The payment should be made by the next pay period, February 15.
Graduate Student Adjunct Health Benefits:
Graduate students are eligible for health care through the university at around $3600 a year---the premium varies from year to year: http://www.stjohns.edu/admission-aid/tuition-and-financial-aid/tuition/health-insurance.
Anti-Racism
On June 8, 2020 both faculty unions received a petition signed by nearly 250 faculty, encouraging them to develop more anti-racist practices and policies. Our Executive Council, many of whom signed the original petition, responded with a pledge to improve SJU-AAUP Inc. as an anti-racist organization. On November 10, 2020, SJU-AAUP Inc. adopted a new Constitution which doubled the number of college representatives to the Council; added adjunct, contract, and equity representatives to the Council; and codified an online election system and online voting processes for chapter meetings.
What Does a Faculty Union Do?
Our faculty union bargains with the administration for wages, benefits, and working conditions as codified in the contract (formally called, "the collective bargaining agreement," or CBA; and the University Statutes, which also specify many faculty working conditions). The CBA is typically negotiated every 2-3 years, depending on the financial outlook of our school.
Who Is In Our Bargaining Unit?
All teaching faculty at St. John's are part of our bargaining unit (full-time and adjunct), with the exception of faculty administrators like Asst/Assoc/Deans or Vice/Provosts, and graduate students who teach through SJU fellowships. Graduate students who simply teach as adjuncts ARE part of the unit, however. Finally, administrators who teach classes are classified as outside our unit because of their administrative roles and titles.
Our Chapter's History
The St. John's University local chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Inc., is the oldest faculty union on campus, first organized in 1961. Its work led to the historic St. John's University faculty contract of 1970-2: for the first time at a private college in the United States, faculty collectively bargained for their employment conditions. Because of political turmoil during the early years of unionization at St. John's, the bargaining unit at the university is split equally between two faculty unions: the local SJU-AAUP Inc. chapter, and the Faculty Association (FA). Faculty members may join one, both, or neither, but all faculty vote on the contract after it has been negotiated for them by representatives from our two unions. Although the reasons for having two distinct unions are now simply a matter of SJU's history, rulings of the National Labor Relations Board since the 1980 Yeshiva case makes the two-union structure an important precedent.
How to Join our AAUP Union Chapter
Suggested membership rates
$30 - Adjunct Faculty (suggested)
$60 - Instructor / Assistant Professor (base contribution)
$80 - Associate Professor (suggested)
$100 - Full Professor (suggested)
St. John's local AAUP members support these essential functions:
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Maintaining our website
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Running elections and contract votes
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Enforcing the contract
Our AAUP chapter will fight for you either way. Join us today so we can fight harder together!