Faculty Rights Tip: I Am a Lecturer Who Performs Unpaid Service to My University. Can I Get Compensated for This?

Lecturers in the CSU perform various forms of invisible service labor that our universities rely upon, from serving as Academic Senators to coordinating programs and supporting students, and more. As we improve our contract with each negotiation cycle, efforts continue toward the goal of reaching the ideal of “no free work.”

There is now a provision in the 2022-2025 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) which addresses the problem of Lecturers performing work that exceeds our teaching, counseling, coaching, or library assignments.

Article 20.38, titled, “Assigned Time for Temporary Faculty Unit Employees Performing Institutional Service,” states:

For each fiscal year of this agreement, CSU campuses will collectively provide a pool of 500 WTUs for each academic year, allocated based on campus full-time equivalent students (FTES), to provide assigned time to Temporary Faculty Unit Employees who perform institutional service that support the CSU’s priorities.  Such WTUs shall not be included as part of a temporary faculty member’s future entitlement base, except where such WTUs were utilized to satisfy the time base entitlement. The allocation of the assigned time will be determined by the President (or designee), and the decision shall be final.

The allocation of the pool shall not result in less than 3 WTUs for any individual campus.

Unlike the reassigned time pool governed by Article 20.37, these allocations are not carried out by the Academic Senate. Therefore, we advise that you contact your Faculty Rights Representative or your campus chapter’s Lecturer Representative to inquire about the process.

And in times of manufactured austerity, we recommend that CFA chapters issue information requests about how many Article 20.38 units are being allocated on the campus, and by what process.

Want to learn more? Become active with your local CFA chapter Faculty Rights team. Find your representative here.

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