Tim Maddocks
When I think about why we need to form a union, I like to reflect on the stress I feel each summer. For me, this is where the uncertainty of life in the adjunct pool is most daunting. As a non-tenure stream writing instructor in Pitt’s English Department my summers are a time of financial uncertainty, uncertainty about my future course load, and uncertainty as to whether I’ll even have a job awaiting me when the Fall semester begins. When the Spring semester ends, precedent suggests there should be classes waiting for me in the Fall. But it’s never a guarantee. And I don’t usually hear about it until three to four weeks before classes begin. As an adjunct, I’m unceremoniously removed from Pitt payroll at the end of each Spring semester and am left scrambling for part-time work to pay my rent and put groceries on the table. Last Spring I was lucky enough to secure a year-long contract as a Visiting Lecturer, but it still left me in that same old precarious position. How would I pay my rent over the summer months? In past summers I’ve worked as a sanitation worker or as a tutor—patching together multiple part-time jobs to make it work.
This past summer, to bridge the gap, I worked on a moving truck, loading and unloading construction equipment at sites all across South Western PA. As the summer came to an end, I was offered the opportunity to apply for a job to drive the truck for a modest raise. When I considered this parallel universe in which I could drive a truck rather than teach writing for the University of Pittsburgh, I realized how unjust and damaging it is to be seasonal worker in the adjunct pool. I learned that as a full-time truck driver my wages—$14 an hour—equaled essentially the same as my salary as a Visiting Lecturer. Whether I taught full time at the university or drove a truck, I’d stand to earn a little over $30,000 per year. And, if my Visiting Lecturer contract wasn’t renewed (a possibility every year and a certainty once its been renewed three times), I’d actually earn more as a truck driver than I would in the adjunct pool.
This is no knock on truck drivers. It’s a knock on the utter disdain for meritocracy in the labor pool. The truth is, I’m not a trained truck driver. I’m a trained teacher. But for me, the wages are the same. And with the construction company, they don’t make me reapply for my job every year. As a truck driver, I wouldn’t have to wait until July to hear whether I’d have any work in August. I wouldn’t be unemployed every summer. As a truck driver, I wouldn’t have to face the pernicious uncertainty of life as an adjunct in the university. So, why am I still teaching? For three reasons: A) I love my students. And my OMETs tell me, they respect me and gain a great deal from my classes. It’s a nice arrangement. I like to think I’m good at this job. B) With two degrees and a daily writing practice, I’m infinitely more qualified to teach college writers than I am to drive a truck. C) I’ve hope that a faculty union could allow for university management to see me as more than a simple cog in their class scheduling. I have hope that things can change.
--Tim Maddocks, English
This past summer, to bridge the gap, I worked on a moving truck, loading and unloading construction equipment at sites all across South Western PA. As the summer came to an end, I was offered the opportunity to apply for a job to drive the truck for a modest raise. When I considered this parallel universe in which I could drive a truck rather than teach writing for the University of Pittsburgh, I realized how unjust and damaging it is to be seasonal worker in the adjunct pool. I learned that as a full-time truck driver my wages—$14 an hour—equaled essentially the same as my salary as a Visiting Lecturer. Whether I taught full time at the university or drove a truck, I’d stand to earn a little over $30,000 per year. And, if my Visiting Lecturer contract wasn’t renewed (a possibility every year and a certainty once its been renewed three times), I’d actually earn more as a truck driver than I would in the adjunct pool.
This is no knock on truck drivers. It’s a knock on the utter disdain for meritocracy in the labor pool. The truth is, I’m not a trained truck driver. I’m a trained teacher. But for me, the wages are the same. And with the construction company, they don’t make me reapply for my job every year. As a truck driver, I wouldn’t have to wait until July to hear whether I’d have any work in August. I wouldn’t be unemployed every summer. As a truck driver, I wouldn’t have to face the pernicious uncertainty of life as an adjunct in the university. So, why am I still teaching? For three reasons: A) I love my students. And my OMETs tell me, they respect me and gain a great deal from my classes. It’s a nice arrangement. I like to think I’m good at this job. B) With two degrees and a daily writing practice, I’m infinitely more qualified to teach college writers than I am to drive a truck. C) I’ve hope that a faculty union could allow for university management to see me as more than a simple cog in their class scheduling. I have hope that things can change.
--Tim Maddocks, English
