Statement on Higher Education Provisions in the Budget Reconciliation Bill and Urgent Call to Action
In September 2021, the Executive Council approved this statement.
Right now, Congress is writing legislation that could reverse the devastating tide of adjunctification and transform labor conditions in the academy in the United States. The MLA emphatically supports these measures and calls on members to voice their support.
In April of this year, the MLA issued a statement supporting the College for All Act, a bill that would make most public colleges and universities tuition-free and reduce student debt. Crucially, the act included a provision requiring institutions to reach a quota of 75 percent tenure-track workforce instruction to receive federal funding. Developed in conversation with Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education, this requirement is now being considered for inclusion in the budget reconciliation bill. It is thanks to the tireless, concerted efforts of higher education labor unions nationwide and the newly formed Higher Ed Labor United that the provision has reached this stage. In August, the American Association of University Professors sent a coalition letter urging Congress to better support higher education workers.
Now is the time for MLA members to act.
Senator Patty Murray of Washington State is the chair of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which is currently writing the final version of the higher education provisions in the budget reconciliation bill.
The MLA encourages our members to call Senator Murray’s office at 202 224-2621 within the next twenty-four hours and tell her the reconciliation bill should include these two priorities:
- require all institutions getting federal support to move toward 75 percent tenure-stream instruction, starting by converting current adjuncts’ and non-tenure-track faculty members’ positions to new tenure-stream positions
- require pay parity for remaining adjuncts and a living wage for all campus workers
We cannot stress enough how revolutionary these provisions would be or how necessary they are to the futures of our members, our students, and our institutions. We may never see an opportunity to change our collective working and learning conditions for the better at this level and this scale again.
Please call Senator Murray and express your support today.