Over 100 Lecturers at Tufts University Cancel Classes in Strike
More than 100 educators at Tufts University will be on strike for two days, starting Monday and canceling classes for some undergraduate students just two weeks into the semester. The decision comes after the union representing 121 full-time lecturers at the School of Arts & Sciences, SEIU Local 509, voted 94 percent in favor of the strike following nearly a year of unsuccessful contract negotiations.
The lecturers are demanding a 3.5 percent annual raise, a cost-of-living adjustment, and a reduction in workload, citing that Tufts has not offered raises or COLAs during negotiations. This has led to salaries for full-time lecturers at Tufts falling below 80% of the area’s median income, making them among the lowest-paid faculty at peer institutions.
To kick off the two-day strike, lecturers will be holding a rally at the Mayer Campus Center on Monday at 10 a.m. The strike is expected to impact classes, labs, and lectures taught by the striking lecturers, but classes taught by other faculty members, such as tenured or tenure-stream faculty, part-time lecturers, professors of the practice, or graduate teaching assistants, will not be affected.
Tufts University spokesperson, Patrick Collins, mentioned that the university and SEIU are bargaining in good faith, but issues related to compensation and workload still remain unresolved. Collins stated that the university has a compensation and merit increase philosophy that considers external market factors and internal equity when determining faculty and staff compensation.
As the strike unfolds, Tufts University students and faculty members will have to navigate the disruptions caused by the absence of lecturers in their classes. The impact of the strike on the academic calendar and the negotiations between the union and the university will be closely watched by the Tufts community and beyond.
