Press Release: Wellesley Non-Tenure-Track Faculty and Postdoctoral Scholars Win Union Amidst Growing Academic Labor Movement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Wellesley Non-Tenure-Track Faculty and Postdoctoral Scholars Win Union Amidst Growing Academic Labor Movement 

January 30, 2024

Non Ministrari sed Ministrare. “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” A supermajority of the unit voted #UnionYES

WELLESLEY, MASSACHUSETTS – Faculty on Term Appointments, Instructors in Science Laboratories, and Postdoctoral Scholars at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts voted by an overwhelming majority in favor of forming the Wellesley Organized Academic Workers - UAW. Ballots were counted Tuesday afternoon by the National Labor Relations Board. WOAW-UAW will represent approximately 125 non-tenure-track and postdoctoral scholars. 

“The non-tenure-track faculty teach 40% of the classes at Wellesley and the vast majority of us identify as women. Yet our salaries are too low to live independently in the Boston area,” said Dr. Erin Battat, Lecturer in the Writing Program. “I look forward to negotiating a strong contract that reflects Wellesley's core values of gender equality and "being a community in which each member thrives. Together we'll make Wellesley a better place to teach, learn, and grow.” 

Faculty on Term Appointments, Instructors in Laboratories, and Postdoctoral Scholars teach, mentor, and advise the more than 2400 undergraduate students at Wellesley. Non-tenure track faculty and postdocs began discussing forming a union in the summer of 2023 after years of advocacy and after recent attempts to improve non-tenure-track salaries were met with silence. 

“A union win for non-tenure-track faculty at Wellesley College legitimizes our career track as highly trained professional educators working alongside our tenured colleagues for decades to fulfill our shared mission of educating women who will make a difference in the world,” said Dr. Christa Skow, Senior Instructor in Biological Sciences Laboratory

“I’m incredibly excited by WOAW-UAW’s impressive victory today,” said Brandon Mancilla, Director of UAW Region 9A, which covers New England, New York City, and Puerto Rico. “They proved once again that worker power can beat any intimidation from the boss. We are eager to get to the table and bargain a first contract.”

Non-tenure-track faculty and postdocs at Wellesley College join over 100,000 UAW-represented academic workers across the United States, including non-tenure track faculty at Barnard, the New School, and UMass Lowell.  In the last eight years, over 40,000 academic workers around the country have chosen to become part of the UAW, and more than 15,000 of them are in the Northeast.

Learn more at www.wellesleyorganizedacademicworkers.org

###