Health and leave benefits, professional development support, seniority, binding arbitration, a boost in pay: these are the high notes of the first contract part-time/adjunct faculty at Syracuse University ratified by a six-to-one margin in a vote counted June 23.

Adjuncts United (AU) represents more than 500 part-time faculty and some graduate students and is affiliated with New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and nationally with the AFT and the NEA. AU has been working towards this contract with the private university since it voted for representation in December 2005. Now, 81 bargaining sessions later--eight of them with a federal mediator at hand--AU has a contract that is a model for private universities in the state and the nation. "It has been a long and arduous process, but well worth the effort," says Jeanette Jeneault, AU president. "As a first contract both sides should be commended on the many best practices that will be memorialized here."

Head over the jump with us to see some of the features of the contract.

Salary: Minimum per credit hour payments of $1,112 in the first year, with 2.10 percent across the board increases and a merit pool of .90 percent increases. Adjuncts will receive additional pay for additional duties, such as advising, conducting seminars and independent study, or developing courses.

Benefits: Syracuse adjuncts teaching a 62.5 percent load (3/2-or 5 courses a year) with a multiyear contract will receive a full benefits package, including health insurance, retirement contributions, other insurance supplements (dental/vision/life) and tuition remission. Those adjuncts teaching less than that load will receive a modified benefits package including university contributions to insurance plans.

Leave: Syracuse adjuncts can reschedule classes or secure substitutes without loss of pay. They receive bereavement leave and jury duty leave without loss of pay.

In addition, the contract provides a grievance procedure with binding arbitration, evaluation, discipline for just cause only, seniority, academic freedom, involvement in governance. "These are must-have provisions," notes New York State United Teachers labor specialist Peter Ludden. "The two year negotiations process was well worth the benefits for members of the bargaining unit."

Elsewhere in the state, adjuncts at another private institution, Pace University, are in their fourth year of trying to bargain a first contract. The Union of Adjunct Faculty at Pace, also a NYSUT/AFT affiliate, has been dealing with stalling and less-than-good faith bargaining tactics from the university despite NLRB rulings that repeatedly support the union.