Skidmore faculty voting on first union contract

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Skidmore College reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with their adjunct professors and other non-tenure track employees. A ratification vote on Tuesday and Thursday will determine whether the faculty will adopt it.

Skidmore is one of the largest employers in Saratoga County. Tuesday marked the beginning of the ratification vote for the first union contract that covers nearly 200 non-tenure track employees. The vote is the culmination of years of work by non-tenure faculty.

“We have colleagues who have lived in the same apartment for four years, but never bought a chair because he was always on a one year contract, so he didn’t think he should invest in a chair, so I think it’s gonna make a really big difference in people‘s lives.” said Ruth McAdams, a senior teaching professor in the English Department.

Roughly 180 non-tenure track faculty voted in favor of a union in September 2022. Sean Collins is the union representative at the negotiating table.

“One faculty member was here for nearly 30 years and was on serial terminal appointments. Now she’s going to be promoted. She’s going to receive a seven year appointment moving forward. Her appointment and status on campus will actually reflect the role that she filled,” said Collins, who anticipates they’ll have the votes needed to ratify the agreement.

That agreement includes longer contracts with expected renewals, pay raises (including salary minimums), more opportunities to be promoted and paid family leave for parents welcoming a new child, at 100% pay for an entire semester. 

It also includes clear expectations for observations and evolutions, with a uniform timeline and system in place.

McAdams said the biggest takeaway for them was job security and that impacts every aspect of her life, especially housing. 

“We met with a couple different lenders and one of them asked me very probingly, like, ‘Well are you a real professor? Do you have job security? Do you have tenure?’ And I had to say no and then that person gave us a loan on the basis of my partner’s income only, assuming that I really didn’t have a job,” said McAdams.

Instructor of Biology Jeremy Sloane said parts of the agreement could extend to tenured employees.

“Some of the policies that are being implemented for us, makes sense for the wider faculty as a whole. So an example would be that parental leave policy. The college has signaled its intention to widen that policy and the new benefits associated with it to the tenure track faculty as well,” said Sloane.

The committee is holding the ratification vote in the college’s dining hall Tuesday and Thursday.

“So at the end of the day at 5 o’clock tomorrow, we’re gonna have an answer,” said Sloane.

“I’m really proud of what the committee was able to accomplish at the bargaining table,” said Collins.