By Dan Klepal
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The University of Cincinnati's Adjunct Faculty Association launches a collective bargaining authorization card drive today as efforts to unionize continue.

The association wants to represent about 1,400 of the 3,000 adjunct professors at UC - specifically those part-time professors who have contracts to teach 10 classes per year, and those who teach only one or two classes per quarter.

The association is trying to pressure university administrators to formally recognize the union.

"The more signatures we get, the more moral authority we have to represent them," said Howard Konicov, an adjunct math professor and coordinator of the card drive. "What we're really setting out to do is change a culture at the university which exploits the vast majority of faculty who teach incoming freshman."

The union has three goals:

• Higher wages. Most adjuncts earn about $500 per credit hour for courses taught.

• Input on decisions that affect classroom curriculum.

• Job security.

The union wants paid office hours for adjuncts, better health benefits and perks, including university e-mail, that full-time professors get.

"Ohio colleges and universities rely more and more on adjunct faculty to teach the majority of courses," said Tom Mooney, vice president of the American Federation of Teachers and president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. "But the extremely low pay, the lack of health insurance and the unprofessional working conditions are unacceptable. The only reason colleges and universities get away with this is because part-time faculty are not organized."

UC spokesman Greg Hand says the university is not anti-union. The reluctance to recognize the association has more to do with not wanting negotiations with two groups of faculty who deal with the same students. Hand also said other organizations exist to address adjunct faculty concerns.

Adjunct instructors at UC make up 42 percent of the university's faculty, but earn a fraction of what full-time professors make for teaching the same courses, Konicov said. Most adjuncts don't receive subsidized health insurance or other benefits, and are generally excluded from department meetings and other university functions, he said.

E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com