Portland State University’s 1,200 part-time faculty won a major victory in a ruling by Oregon’s Employment Relations Board (ERB) against the university. ERB’s October 3 ruling found that PSU violated state labor law when it cut off key adjunct faculty funds after their contract expired last summer.
ERB determined that PSU failed to maintain the status quo during ongoing contract negotiations with the Portland State University Faculty Association (PSUFA).
The Board ordered PSU to restore funds it withheld, reimburse affected faculty with 9% annual interest, and post a notice acknowledging the violations.
At issue were three funds guaranteed under the previous collective bargaining agreement: compensation for union release time, professional development funds, and a hardship relief program known as the Adjunct Financial Assistance Fund. When the contract expired on June 30, the university stopped processing applications and payments tied to those programs, arguing that its obligations ended with the contract.
ERB ruled otherwise. It argued that PSU was required to continue those payments during the “hiatus period” between contracts, and that PSU had violated labor law when it halted payments. These funds, ERB argued, are essential for adjuncts, many of whom earn less than $30,000 annually and rely on the stipends to meet basic needs.
“There’s a lot of people for whom a canceled class is a disaster, and that’s what these economic hardship funds are for,” PSUFA co-chair Erica Thomas told the Labor Press. Adjunct faculty work term-to-term and can apply for longer contracts after they’ve taught at PSU for a while, but faculty often have classes canceled at the last minute, Thomas said. That’s a problem PSUFA is working to address in the next contract, she said, which is still being bargained four months after the last contract expired.
At the September 26 PSU Board of Trustees meeting, Allie Schistler-Blizzard, an adjunct instructor in the School of Social Work and representative of PSUFA, testified on behalf of the university’s part-time faculty. She reminded trustees of adjuncts’ critical role in the university’s teaching mission.
“These adjuncts teach over a third of student credit hours and represent nearly 50 percent of your instructional faculty,” she said. “We’re accomplished scholars, professionals, and experts.”
ERB’s decision underscores a growing tension across higher education as universities increasingly rely on part-time faculty while trimming budgets.
Thomas said she was happy with ERB’s ruling. “We’re not pleased that we had to take it to that level. But we see this as a win for workers on campus,” Thomas said.
