• Organizing Committee
• How To Reach Us
• Brief History

• About NTTs at ISU
• Why Support the
  NTT-FA
• Frequently Asked Questions
• A Comparison of Benefits

• Other NTT unions
• Illinois State University
• Illinois Education Association
• National Educational Association

Our Position...

We feel strongly about the need for a union at Illinois State University.  Please read this article to see why it is important to Unionize NOW!

Home

File Petition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   October 15, 2002

ISU "Temp" Professors Request Union Election

Press Conference Planned for 12:30 on Tuesday

NORMAL - On Friday, October 11, part-time and "temporary" faculty at Illinois State University who don't participate in the tenure system enjoyed by traditional university professors filed a petition requesting a union election.  The ISU Nontenure-Track Faculty Association-IEA/NEA submitted their petition to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in Springfield.  At 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 15, the NTT Faculty Association will hold a press conference under the canopy between Milner Library and the Bone Student Center.  Several NTTs will be present to discuss their reasons for organizing a union.

"We've worked hard for the past six months, and we're pleased that even with the summer break and professional and family obligations we managed to far exceed the number of signatures to call for an election," said Sharon MacDonald, an instructor in the History Department.  "We're over forty percent of the classroom instructors, but we're almost invisible on campus.  This is a long-overdue step toward gaining the rights, respect, and recognition we deserve."

The NTT Faculty Association began organizing in April, on the date that the Illinois Board of Higher Education released a report about nontenure track faculty.  The ISU NTT FA seeks to address the concerns of hundreds of "temporary professors" teaching in ISU classrooms.  Our concerns are the same as those of many in today's globalized workplace:  lack of job security, fair pay, and standards for NTT employment.

Next steps for the NTT Faculty Association include raising awareness about the organization and its goals.  "We want to be sure people understand that we're NTTs, and with a union we can make meaningful changes to our employment.  We're not just another committee whose recommendations will always remain strictly advisory, acted upon or ignored on the whims of the administration.  When decisions are made about our terms of employment, we'll be at the table--we'll negotiate as peers,"  MacDonald said.

The ISU NTT Faculty Association is affiliated with the Illinois Education Association-NEA.  The IEA represents 110,000 education employees across Illinois, and in the past five years, nontenure faculty at Roosevelt University, Columbia College, and the College of DuPage have organized unions affiliated with the IEA.  

For more information, contact:

Sharon MacDonald,  (309) 376-5021

Steve Vaughan, (IEA Organizer) (217) 390-5942