To: Wellesley College Faculty and Staff
From: Andy Shennan, Provost and Lia Gelin Poorvu ’56 Dean of the College, and Carolyn Slaboden, Chief Human Resources Officer
Re: Wellesley’s commitment to non-tenure track faculty
Date: January 18, 2024
In less than two weeks, Wellesley’s non-tenure track (NTT) faculty who are eligible to vote in a proposed bargaining unit will make an important choice as they decide whether they want to unionize and be represented by the Wellesley Organized Academic Workers (WOAW), affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW). As we have noted before, the outcome of this election will be determined by a majority of those who actually vote, just like a political election. Therefore, it is very important for all eligible faculty to cast their ballot.
This critical vote is not about guarantees of increased compensation or job security. Instead, it is simply—but importantly—a choice for eligible faculty about whether to adopt a new process through which wages, hours, and terms of employment will be determined: whether they will continue to work with colleagues in advisory committees of Academic Council and with the Office of the Provost or adopt a new structure, with WOAW-UAW acting as their exclusive representative through collective bargaining with the College.
If the union is voted in, it will have the right to negotiate with the College over wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment, but the law does not guarantee any particular outcome from those negotiations. The union would be free to submit proposals to the College bargaining team during collective bargaining negotiations related to compensation, benefits, and working conditions, and the College would also submit proposals related to these matters. Bargaining does not necessarily begin with the status quo; both the union and the College would be free to propose changes. There are no guarantees in negotiations, and a final collective bargaining agreement might or might not include the wages, benefits, and terms and conditions of employment NTT faculty currently have. No one can accurately predict what a final collective bargaining agreement would look like.
We would like to take this opportunity to clarify several issues that have come up over the past several weeks:
Salary. It is important to consider Wellesley’s salaries for lecturers and instructors in science laboratory (ISLs) in relation to teaching load. The average base salary for Wellesley full-time lecturers and ISLs in FY24 is $85,400, with 75% of full-time faculty teaching four courses. At many other schools, full-time NTT faculty are expected to teach five or (as at Barnard, for example) six courses per year.
From 2010 to 2020, continuing non-tenure track faculty received average annual salary increases of 2.6%, outpacing the rate of inflation in the Boston area and nationally.
Length of service. Unlike some other institutions, Wellesley does not require lecturers or ISLs to leave after a specified period of time. Forty-three percent of lecturers and ISLs have been at the College for more than 10 years, and 22% have been at the College for more than 20 years.
Governance. If eligible NTT faculty vote to form a union, the College and the WOAW-UAW will engage in good-faith bargaining over “wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment,” which are mandatory subjects of collective bargaining. It will no longer be appropriate for these topics to be discussed in existing advisory committees of the Academic Council.
We have also updated and added questions and answers to the College’s informational website on the unionization process.
The College will continue to work with our colleagues to address their concerns regardless of the outcome of the election. Given the far-reaching implications this decision will have on the College’s operations, culture, and community, we encourage all eligible non-tenure track faculty to consider this decision carefully, and to vote.
