by David Milroy
The Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL) is a network of North American union activists who have worked for over 30 years to defend higher education rights and improve work conditions for contingent academic labor by bringing together activists from numerous unions across the United States, Mexico, English Canada, and Quebec that works to promote the sharing of information and strategies to strengthen our capacity for action. COCAL XV conference was held in Gatineau, Quebec on August 8th and 9th, 2024, with a focus on the many issues specific to contingent academic labor and the means faculty can use to mobilize directly against threats to our work conditions and our representation in universities, colleges, and community colleges. The obstacles experienced by all contingent faculty are rooted in a higher education system eroded by profit-making managerial values that reinforce contingency or precariousness rather than combating it. This value system also has repercussions on collegiality and academic freedom, two essential rights being undermined in many universities and colleges worldwide. To reverse this trend, collective action remains our most formidable tool for bringing about the changes needed to support free, egalitarian, and pluralistic education. Through various themes, COCAL attendees were invited to exchange and debate ideas and positions that would form the core of a manifesto to be drafted by the delegates and contribute to the organization of a North American Day of Struggle and Mobilization.
The first theme presented was “Collegiality, Academic Freedom, and The Political Voice of Contingent Teaching Staff”. Speakers looked at the main obstacles to the political participation of contingent faculty and asked how governance mechanisms supported or hindered contingent faculty engagement and how we can better protect freedom of expression and academic freedom in the institution for contingent workers.
During lunch, Joe Berry and Helena Worthen, co-authors of “Power Despite Precarity: Strategies For The Contingent Faculty Movement In Higher Education” presented “Why the Contingent Faculty Movement Needs a Broader Higher Ed Labour Movement: Historic Challenges to Academic Freedom”. The next presentation was up-to-date news on democracy and abuse of power in universities featuring presenters from each region.
The second theme was “Enriching Rather than Fragmenting the Work of Contingent Academic Labour: Analysis and Solutions.” Based on this broad theme, five workshops considered various solutions for how to obtain better working conditions to support the integration of contingents within the higher education community. Workshops covered topics such as the stigma and lack of recognition of contingent faculty, the impact of precariousness on employees’ health, and academic freedom and professional autonomy. In one workshop, David Milroy, M.A., Chair of the San Diego Adjunct Faculty Association, member of CPFA and FACCC, and 25-year member of the COCAL International Advisory Committee, made a presentation on behalf of Frank Cosco of Vancouver Community College and Jack Longmate of the Washington Part-Time Faculty Association on the very timely solution for precarity known as the “The One-Tier Model – A solution to the problems of precarious teachers”.
The theme continued the next day in a Plenary session where the discussion focused on solutions for better working conditions and greater recognition of the work of contingent faculty. Spokespersons for each workshop put forward ideas at various levels to enrich the work of precarious university teaching staff and took stands in favor of valuing the real work of precarious teaching staff by adopting a manifesto and a set of principles reaffirming the essential role of contingent faculty.
Other panels dealt with “Commodification in the Context of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Online Teaching” and “The Key Elements for an Historic Union Mobilization”.
The final Plenary session, “Continuing to Mobilize,” highlighted the history of COCAL and an update on the proposal adopted during COCAL XIV 2022 in Mexico to create an action committee for international mobilization. The next COCAL conference is scheduled to be held in the United States in 2026. The location and hosting institution have yet to be selected. For more information on COCAL, see the website at www.cocalinternational.org or contact David Milroy at dmilroy53@gmail.com.
David Milroy taught French in four San Diego County community colleges from 1988 to 2019. He was an active member of CFT/AFT and CCA/NEA, Chair and Dir. of Admin. for CPFA. He currently serves on the COCAL International Advisory Committee, the FACCC Retirement Committee, and as Chair of the San Diego Adjunct Faculty Association (SDAFA). Now retired, David is the President of the San Diego Division 4 of CalRTA in San Diego.