Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to let you know that I have resigned my position as President of NTFC, as well as my role as co-lead negotiator for the 3rd contract.

This was a deeply difficult decision. I have loved being your President, and I have loved helping to represent us at the bargaining table. But, my mother has been diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer, and I cannot faithfully execute either of these roles during this time.

It has been an absolute honor to serve NTFC, and I know I am leaving our union with strong leadership still in place.

It is of note that we are currently fighting for a leave policy that would have allowed me to stop teaching and be with my mother full-time. If I were Specialized Faculty at the University of Illinois Chicago, I could do this right now. As Specialized Faculty at the flagship campus, I cannot. Maybe our Board of Trustees and  administrators can afford to take unpaid leave (FMLA), but I cannot. 

And remember, even if the other side does concede this to us in Contract 3, without a union, they would not have given it to us. If they were going to, they would have done so in the last 15 years. They want the status quo. We demand better. This is why we are here. This is what we are fighting for. 

I’m sure many of you have been in a situation similar to the one I currently face. I wish no future members ever have to join us. 

To make sure they don’t, please support our Bargaining Team in whatever way you can in these negotiations. 

Let’s make sure none of us ever has to be in a hospital room counting sick days and burning through their savings just to be with the ones they love in their final days.

In Solidarity,
Amanda Bales
Teaching Assistant Professor, English
Your Former NTFC President

Reading Day Work-In

Specialized faculty have been working hard all semester, and it’s time for that last push! Join us on Reading Day next Thursday, December 7, 9am-2pm in the Illini Union Courtyard Cafe. You can bring your grading, invite students for office hours, or whatever your Reading Day routine looks like. We’ll have coffee and refreshments waiting for you. Consider wearing your new NTFC scarf- that way we can easily find each other!

Bargaining Opening Day

We’re excited to invite you (all NTFC members) to Bargaining Opening Day! Come to Levis Faculty Center, room 208, 1-4pm on Thursday, December 14. Our bargaining team will present our proposal to University administration. If you can take the time to attend, it will make a big difference as a statement of support and solidarity. 

Our Proposal

Thanks to everyone who contributed by telling us what issues matter to you, via our surveys and in-person meetings and events! This proposal has come into being as a result of NTFC members and their ideas. To learn more about our proposal, come to Reading Day. You may also reach out and email us with any questions! There is also detailed information available on our social media (Here are links to our Instagram and Facebook).

Want to be in the know?

Would you like to hear more about our operations? Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/EpJNQXhX

Wings are on us! Come to Quality on Friday, Nov 3, 5-8pm for food, drinks, and camaraderie! There will be a vegetarian option. All specialized faculty are invited (members and nonmembers). Come and get to know your colleagues!

NTFC Local #6546, the union representing full-time non-tenure track (NTT) faculty at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, stands in full solidarity with Columbia Faculty Union (CFAC), the union representing NTT faculty at Columbia College Chicago, as they fight to hold the line against austerity cuts about to be imposed by the Columbia College administration.

As has recently been reported, Columbia College leadership is proposing cutting class offerings made available to NTT faculty, increasing class sizes, and denying health benefits to these faculty, in efforts to ameliorate a budget deficit. What had originally been presented as “strategic” budgeting is now being described using terms like “crisis” in efforts to avoid negotiating with CFAC and to shift the burdens of this budgeting onto NTT faculty, who may be asked to “manage” large classes rather than teach within their expertise.

NTFC knows well the dangers of budgets that diminish quality instruction by increasing class sizes, overworking NTTs, and not allowing faculty to shape the education they know best. Both faculty and students suffer under such systems, as faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.

NTFC urges the administration of Columbia College to take seriously the concerns of its core NTT faculty and engage with CFAC in good faith, even in the trying budget situation the College finds itself in.