The Oakland College Has Been Very Progressive on the Rights of Transgender Students but Not on Collective-Bargaining Rights or Adjunct-Faculty Rights

In a very recent post, I commented on Mills College’s becoming the first single-gender institution to admit transgender students [https://academeblog.org/2014/08/26/mills-college-becomes-the-first-single-gender-college-to-admit-transgender-students/].

The college’s progressivism on that issue, however, seems to stand in fairly stark contrast to its stand on the unionization of its adjunct faculty, who now account for about two-thirds of the faculty at the institution.

These faculty voted by a more than 3 to 1 margin to affiliate with SEIU Local 1021, and they have just recently begun their negotiations for an initial contract.

But, according to “The Battle for Adjunct Faculty Rights,” an article written by Sam Levin for the East Bay Express [http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/the-battle-for-adjunct-faculty-rights/Content?oid=4026313], the college has already been retaliating against the union’s organizers and vocal supporters:

“SEIU 1021 has already filed four unfair labor practice charges against Mills, alleging that the college has implemented policy changes without giving the union proper notice or an opportunity to bargain—and has retaliated and discriminated against two faculty members for union organizing. Critics say the administration’s actions reflect an ongoing failure to support adjuncts and a level of resistance to unionization that contradicts the progressive values the college purports to promote.”