East-West Plans Big Raises for Adjuncts

East-West University, which is facing a union drive by its adjuncts, is planning to offer them big raises. A spokesman confirmed that the university plans to offer adjuncts without a Ph.D. a 13 percent increase in the fall, and those with a Ph.D. a 20 percent increase. According to the spokesman, the raises have nothing to do with the union drive, but are the results of a faculty review of adjunct pay at other Chicago institutions -- and the realization that East-West had fallen behind. The university has been facing criticism for new policies that officially notified adjuncts that they had no work this summer and that they would need to interview with the chancellor to obtain teaching assignments in the fall. Organizers of the union, which aims to affiliate with the National Education Association, believe these shifts were designed to delay a union vote, but the university denies this. One union organizer called the planned raises "window dressing."