Valencia College adjuncts are poised to unionize in a push for non-poverty wages

In a feat that’s at least three years in the making, adjunct faculty at Valencia College in Orlando have secured a union election.

Adjuncts are now in their final week of the election; the deadline for receiving ballots is Wednesday, June 16.

At Valencia, adjunct professors make up about 70 percent of the total faculty at the public college and earn roughly $2,000 for a three-credit course, on average, teaching one to six courses a semester. It’s a part-time position that — at Valencia, and at many other higher education institutions across the country — comes without health benefits, lacks job security, and often requires juggling multiple jobs to compensate for work that is chronically undervalued.

Teresa Greene, a 74-year-old adjunct professor of psychology at Valencia, says she first began talking to her colleagues about organizing back in 2014.

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