Contingent Workers, Adjunct Faculty, and Working Women:

Domestic Violence: The Work Is Ongoing

                                              

By Amy Laiken

Since October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, it might be useful to look back on how the understanding of and approach to the issue has evolved over time. For decades, domestic violence (sometimes referred to as intimate partner violence) was largely viewed as a "private family matter," which meant that the police and the medical establishment were often reluctant to intervene. There were even times when violence against one's spouse or domestic partner was viewed with humor. For example, a section of Ms. Magazine titled "No Comment" that asked readers to send in examples of sexist advertising, featured in its July 1973 issue a poster for a Michigan bowling alley that read, "Have Some Fun. Beat Your Wife Tonight." This poster was undoubtedly meant to be a humorous exhortation to husbands to achieve a better score than their wives in a bowling competition, rather than as a call to commit domestic violence. But it displayed a lack of awareness of domestic violence as the serious issue it was and still is.

As women's rights groups proliferated, the idea that battering one's partner was something to joke about, or not taken seriously, began to diminish. Luckily, few, if any businesses would display such a poster today.

Domestic Violence's impact the Workplace.

Another way thinking about the issue has changed is the push to increase awareness among employers that domestic violence can impact the workplace, whether an employee is victimized where he or she works or elsewhere. In an article by Roy Maurer on the Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM) website, Janice Santiago, a former employment advocate at Women Helping Battered Women (now known as Steps to End Domestic Violence, a Vermont organization), said, "We really have to work on the workplace culture around this issue, so employees will not be afraid or embarrassed to tell HR about domestic violence concerns, and are provided the flexibility to deal with the issue."

Domestic Violence's Impact on Victims/ Survivors

For a better understanding of domestic violence in general and how it has impacted victims/survivors, I spoke with a social worker who has been working in the field for 45 years. She prefers to remain anonymous so as to protect the professional relationships she has cultivated over the years. I will refer to her as "A." She says that nowadays, there is less of a tendency to dismiss domestic violence as a private problem than when she first started working in the field, and credits the women's movement with educating the public about the issue and pushing for needed reforms. Over the years, "A" has seen an increased diversity among those working on domestic violence (in terms of greater numbers of African Americans, Latinx, and Asian Americans), as well as among those coming forward as victims. Some of the changes "A" has seen over the years have been:

 

Although "A" hailed the development of protocols for police departments and hospital emergency rooms, she emphasized that implementation and enforcement of them remains uneven. Even with some improvements, much work remains to be done.

 

National Domestic Violence Hotline

1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

1-800-787-3224 (TTY)

 

The Hotline provides service referrals to agencies in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  

Meet Professor Rachel Tollett,  

Vice President of Adjunct Union of City Colleges of Chicago

                                                 

by Jackie Kirley

 

The City Colleges district is one of the nation's largest community college districts, the largest in Illinois, and adjuncts comprise roughly 60% of their faculty. The City Colleges Contingent Labor Organizing Committee (CCCLOC) is the union that represents them. Professor Rachel Tollett is its Vice President.

 

In an interview, I asked Professor Tollett if she came from a background affiliated with the labor movement. Not at all, but her family, from Arkansas, advocates for others. Her mother works for a nonprofit dealing with homelessness; her father serves as a Director of Development with the Salvation Army. She was completely unaware of the union until a fellow adjunct spoke to her about City College adjuncts being out of contract and their need for representation. He invited her to a meeting where she learned about the union and also where Randall Miller, then membership secretary of CCCLOC and current president, suggested that she run for Vice President.

 

As Vice President of CCCLOC, Professor Tollett deals with issues involving disciplinary hearings of adjuncts, investigations and interviews involving the City of Chicago's Inspector Generals' Office, and the college's EEO Office (dealing with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission polices such as Title IX and Title VII). She relishes her job as an opportunity to sit down opposite a member of the administration, represent her colleagues, and offer them an official voice. Professor Tollett's contribution to their most recent contract was to describe statistical patterns in the disciplinary hearings so that contract language could be introduced that would clarify situations and make some of those hearings unnecessary.  

 

Despite some difficulties with vague language, Professor Tollett said their new contract concluded in July 2018 and sunsetting in June 2020 included three major gains. First, it raised the floor of the lowest paid faculty member in the bargaining unit to $870+ per credit hour, putting City College adjuncts now at the median of community college adjuncts in Cook County, where before they had been at the bottom. Second, it retroactively paid for the 5 years they were out of contract. And, finally, it shrinks the gap between the lowest and highest paid adjuncts, a feature that makes for more union solidarity. To read the entire contract click here. CCCLOC will resume bargaining in 2019.  

 

Adjuncts, like full-time professors, must have a minimum of a master's degree to teach at City Colleges. Rachel Tollett has dual bachelor's degrees in piano performance and composition, a master's degree in musicology from Baylor University, and she has recently completed her Ph.D. in musicology from Northwestern University. Some adjuncts experience collegiality and equitable treatment at the City Colleges, but that is not uniform across campuses. Professor Tollett feels strongly that when over half the workforce in a college or university consists of contingent workers, the administration and full-time faculty should acknowledge that these are people with equal training and preparedness and are worthy to be respected and recognized as such.

 

Professor Tollett says a goal never to lose sight of is pay equity with full time professors. As a union CCCLOC wants to emphasize that equity in their pay is not simply an issue of respect for them as professors but also a case of economic equity that affects student education and learning outcomes. Economic equity for teachers is instructional equity for students. If you want a vibrant, diverse, high quality graduate then give students professors who are intellectually challenged, financially secure, professionally fulfilled, and economically empowered to dedicate their time and resources to student success.

 

Celtic Women Intl. Literary Salon

 

Saturday, October 27, 2018 - 12 pm to 6 pm

Irish American Heritage Center - Room 111

4626 N Knox, Chicago

Mother Jones at IBAM

 

You can download a schedule here. 

 

1:00 - Kathy Cunningham presenting "Story Telling Through the Visual Arts

12:00 - Debbie O'Grady presenting "Celtic Tartans: Facts, History and Trivia"

12:30 - Maureen Garry presenting "A work-in-progress of a list of representative Celtic literary authors."

1:30 - Mary Kunert presenting '12 Patron Saints - 7 Celtic Nations"

2:00 - Theresa Choske presenting "Sarah Purser 1848-1943"

2:30 - Janet Bieschke presenting "Readings from her books Voices of the 21st Century: 3:00 - Jeanne Wrenn - Presenting " Concern Worldwide U.S.: Helping the World's Neediest Help Themselves"

3:30 - Virginia Gibbons presenting "Resilience and Love: The Powerful Women of Alice McDermott and Jennifer Egan"

4:00 - Special Program on Mother Jones presented by the Mother Jones Heritage Project (Margaret Fulkerson, Brigid Duffy & Elliott Gorn) - "Irish Rebel: Mother Jones, America's Most Dangerous Woman:

5:00 - PUB BREAK to visit the IAHC Pub, grab a pint or cup of tea and return for the movie!

5:30 - Movie "Mother Jones, America's Most Dangerous Woman"

 

WWHP Board members Margaret Fulkerson and Brigid Duffy are among the presenters at the 4 p.m. program on Mother Jones. Please join us.  

 

Illinois Labor History Society will hold its Union Hall of Honor dinner on Friday, November 30th at IUOE 399, 2260 S. Grove, Chicago. WWHP board member Katie Jordan will be one of the inductees in its Union Hall of Honor. http://www.illinoislaborhistory.org/

 

 

Last month's emailed version of the newsletter was mistakenly labeled "October 2018."  

It should have been labeled "September 2018"