Rhode Island College AFT Adjunct Union

Member benefits assistance for job interruption

Lost a teaching assignment? Not sure if you will be working in the fall? Check out the following link to see how AFT can help: https://www.aft.org/member-benefits/member-benefits-assistance-job-interruption

As an adjunct, am I eligible for unemployment compensation if I am not teaching during the current term?

Click here for more information.

Welcome

Welcome to the website for the Rhode Island College Adjunct Faculty Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. We hope these pages will give you a good sense of who we are and how we support part-time faculty at RIC.

If you just happen to glance at our union local number, AFT 1563, it seems pretty nondescript, but early Adjunct Union members smile whenever they see it. Here's why: as you know the first step in organizing a union is rounding up supporters who will vote to establish the union as their bargaining unit. When, after months of organizing with the vital assistance of staff

Randi Weingarten at a Massachusetts high school

Summer is upon us, and parents, children and teachers are winding down from what has been an exhausting and fully operational school year—the first since the devastating pandemic. The long-lasting impact of COVID-19 has affected our students’ and families’ well-being and ignited the politics surrounding public schools. All signs point to the coming school year unfolding with the same sound and fury, and if extremist culture warriors have their way, being even more divisive and stressful.

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

Legislation on Health Insurance for Adjuncts

There is a bill in the General Assembly, SB 2199 (sponsored by Senators Miller, Cano, Quezada, Murray, DiPalma, and Seveny) that would extend health insurance to "adjunct faculty members at any state community college, state college, or 9 state university who shall teach at least fifty percent (50%) of the faculty load worked by regular 10 full-time faculty in an academic semester." This would not include any dependents or retirees.

Please contact your State Reps and let them know that they need to support this legislation.

Randi Weingarten and NYC teacher Tamara Simpson

Attacks on public education in America by extremists and culture-war peddling politicians have reached new heights (“lows” may be more apt), but they are not new. The difference today is that the attacks are intended not just to undermine public education but to destroy it.

FAQ

How do I join?

Any adjunct faculty member who has taught six faculty load hours in two calendar years is automatically a part of the bargaining unit.

What are the dues?

Are dues taken out of our pay automatically?

Yes, your dues are deducted from each paycheck automatically.

What are the benefits of being in the union?

The contract the Adjunct Faculty Union negotiated has brought many benefits:

It establishes a transparent procedure for assigning courses and guarantees that adjuncts receive courses in proportion to their length of service.
It requires your department to promptly notify you about