Mills at Northeastern Adjuncts & Staff Have a Contract!
When we fight, we win!
It’s been a wild ride since Northeastern University acquired Mills College earlier this year. Our staff and adjunct contract negotiations teams encountered a great deal of resistance from Northeastern administration in honoring our basic union rights and maintaining the, as well as in securing improvements.
Staff and adjuncts organized, held rallies, and started preparing for a strike. And the pressure worked. Our staff and adjunct bargaining teams have both reached tentative agreement we were proud to bring to members for a vote Thursday, Nov. 17, and Friday, Nov. 18. Both tentative agreements were unanimously approved by voting members.
Staff union contract highlights
Wage increases:
In our bargaining surveys over the last two years, Mills staff made clear that it was a priority to focus wage increases on those at the lower end of the pay scale.
Immediately upon ratification:
15% raises for lowest-paid workers
New minimum wage for future part-employees will be increased from $15 to $17
New minimum wage for full-time employees will be $23.15 (there is currently no minimum wage for full-time employees)
5% raises for anyone making under $70k
2% raises for anyone making $70-$80k
1% raises for anyone making above $80k
Year 2 cost of living adjustment (COLA) of at least 2.5%, pending the results of a comprehensive compensation study
Year 3 COLA of 2.5%
Compensation study:
Resolving pay inequities on campus will require a comprehensive review of each staff person’s title, job description, real responsibilities, and current rate of pay.
We have won a commitment from Northeastern for a compensation study, including a date of completion and the ability to negotiate compensation based on the results of the study.
The compensation study will be a two-part process, and will conclude in October 2023 with a wage reopener (an agreement to bargain over a part of a collective bargaining agreement at a specific time before the contract has expired).
Union rights:
Just cause for discipline and termination
A grievance procedure with binding arbitration
Formation of labor-management committee to handle contract enforcement and other workplace issues as they arise
Right to bargain over changes in working conditions in the future
Preference for current staff in internal transfers and job bidding
Recognition of union stewards
2 weeks notice, or pay in lieu of notice, before any layoffs
2 weeks severance pay per year worked, including from date of hire at Mills.
Benefits:
All staff who are currently benefit eligible will maintain their eligibility.
Staff who work 20 hours a week, and are therefore not eligible for health benefits at Northeastern, will be given the option to increase their hours to 24 hours per week in order to become benefit-eligible.
Children’s School staff who work at least 30 hours per week for at least 10 months of the year are eligible for benefits.
Compensation:
Minimum per-credit rate will be increased on January 1, 2023, to $2250.
January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, it will increase by 3% each year.
Adjuncts can apply to the Northeastern faculty development fund.
If a course that has already been assigned to a bargaining unit faculty member (letter of appointment) is canceled, the member will receive a cancellation fee of 75%.
Independent study/directed study rate will be increased to $265 per credit.
Job security:
Mills probationary period of 5 courses will be maintained.
Faculty will have course seniority in courses they’ve taught a few times.
If a course becomes available, it will go to bargaining unit faculty based on departmental seniority.
Northeastern will post internally for all available courses so bargaining unit faculty can submit to teach courses for which they are qualified.
Teaching history at Mills will count for all purposes with Northeastern.
If Northeastern takes a class away from someone who has taught it historically, they will be paid a 25% cancellation fee.
Benefits:
Mills faculty who were benefit eligible will remain benefit eligible for 2023.
Northeastern will switch Mills to the Northeastern health plan, which works on a “look back” model rather than a “look forward” model.
Adjunct union contract highlights
Mills College staff voted by nearly 95% to form their union with SEIU Local 1021 in March of 2020. A year and a half later, they still do not have a first contract, due to Mills administration’s refusal to negotiate in good faith.
“I have worked here for over 15 years, and am an alum twice over, with a BA and an MA. Our staff are a crucial part of the fabric of Mills. We have relationships with the students; we implement the programming that the students are here for; we keep the college running. Our students deserve to know that they will have some sort of continuity as they navigate this change. Experienced staff can provide that. We both need and deserve written commitments through collective bargaining that assure us that we won’t be disposed of when or before Northeastern takes over. So far, the administration is refusing to do any of these things. It’s unacceptable.”
Mills College was one of the very first private colleges in the Bay Area where adjunct faculty voted to unionize in 2014. Non-tenured faculty teach over 75% of courses there (as in most colleges), yet had no job security or continuity from semester to semester, were paid substandard wages, and importantly, had no voice in the programmatic, operational, or financial decisions being made by administration that deeply affected them and their students.
After successfully negotiating strong contracts, changes in administration have led to a more adversarial relationship with the union, despite the college’s claims at being social justice-focused.
In March of 2020, Mills staff voted by nearly 95% to join the adjuncts as members of SEIU Local 1021—for the same reasons adjuncts had joined years earlier: job security, livable wages, and a voice on the job.
“The staff and faculty—including the non-tenured faculty who teach most courses at Mills—make Mills the unique college it is. But we have not received any commitment whatsoever that we will still have jobs next year, or that Northeastern University will recognize our unions and negotiate in good faith towards an equitable transition, where job security, living wages, and a meaningful seat at the table can best serve whatever Mills-Northeastern becomes.”
