Support WMU’s Part-time Faculty in their Fight for a Living Wage

Western Michigan University Administration

Western Michigan University (WMU) relies on the part-time instructors in the Professional Instructors Organization (PIO - American Federation of Teachers local #1903, AFL-CIO) to fulfill its educational mission. We are highly qualified and deeply dedicated instructors, and we are fighting for a fair wage and job stability at the table, yet WMU’s administration clings to unnecessary austerity narratives in our current contract negotiations.

They are attempting to argue that we deserve to be paid exploitative wages, even though the courses we taught in 2019-20 brought in over $51 million in tuition revenue, the hundreds of instructors in our union only took home 8.9% of that revenue. Shockingly, WMU’s administration still thinks that we are overpaid and don’t deserve a living wage commensurate with our contributions to the university.

Since our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions, the administration's refusal to engage in substantive improvements to our contract harm not only us as workers, but also our students.

Please show your support for our union as we fight for a fair contract.

In the "organization" field, please let us know if/how you are affiliated with WMU, PIO, or Unions. For example, "WMU Student", "WMU Faculty", "Family Member", "Kalamazoo Resident", or "Concerned Ally".



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To: Western Michigan University Administration
From: [Your Name]

Dear WMU Administration:

As a member of the WMU community at large, it's important to me that the university continues to excel in fulfilling its educational mission. It's clear that Part-Time Instructors are a critical component, yet it doesn't appear that you recognize the value of their contribution.

I urge you to back off the unnecessary austerity narrative and start to to pay some of your most important faculty a fair wage that is equitable with their full-time peers. Part-time Instructors deserve a raise.

Thanks!