Howard University Faculty Strikes Deal With School Administration To Averting A Walkout
The union representing Howard University adjunct faculty agreed to call off its three-day strike, a statement released Wednesday (March 23) from the Howard University Provost Office said.
Last week, about 500 faculty and students rallied at the historically Black university’s campus to demand fair labor practices for adjunct professors. Their grievances included low wages and a struggle to teach enough courses to obtain health benefits. The adjuncts threatened to start a strike on Wednesday after negotiations with the school’s administration stalled.
“We are pleased to announce that the University reached a tentative three-year collective bargaining agreement with Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 500,” the message addressed to the university’s community stated.
A tweet from the official account of the teaching faculty union at Howard University said the agreement was reached Wednesday at 3:26 a.m., declaring that “we are hereby calling off the strike.
In addition to their complaints about earning low wages, the adjuncts have one-year appointments that are capped at seven years. Consequently, they face job insecurity. Many of them are also forced to work additional jobs to financially support themselves.
Before the breakthrough, negotiations had reached an impasse. Howard rejected the low-wage accusation, saying that more than 600 non-union faculty received salary increases in January 2022 to meet the median salary of faculty at our peer institutions.
Responding to the on-campus protest, the university stated that it has “remained diligent in our engagements with union representation and consistent in our efforts to reach an agreement.”
With the strike averted, both sides noted that the tentative agreement must be ratified. In the interim, they hailed Wednesday as a day of celebration.
Cyrus Hampton, a contingent faculty leader, credited the “victory” to the collective efforts of tenured and nontenured faculty, students and alums. He expects the union members to be pleased with the agreement.
