Today, Rep. Fred Strahorn (D-Dayton) and Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) introduced HB 96 and SB 65, companion legislation (e.g. identical bills) that would grant collective bargaining rights to adjunct faculty and graduate students.

Under Ohio’s current law, part-time teaching employees at Ohio’s public institutions of higher education are prohibited from forming a union.

“Like all Ohioans, adjunct faculty and graduate assistants deserve a fair shake in the workplace,” Turner said. “They are a pivotal part of the fabric of higher education and need a seat at the table to ensure that they’re being treated fairly.” 
  
Strahorn agreed. “My bill is about fairness. The people who are doing an increased share of the teaching 
deserve to have a say in their working conditions,” he said. “It simply says people who have been excluded from collective bargaining should no longer be excluded from that right if they so choose.”

The Ohio Conference AAUP has partnered with the Ohio Federation of Teachers to support these bills.  

John T. McNay, President of the Ohio Conference AAUP said, “Adjunct faculty and graduate students now comprise the majority of instructors at Ohio’s public institutions of higher education. Their working conditions are the students’ learning conditions, and we need to ensure that they have the opportunity to speak with a unified voice.”

Rep. Strahorn originally introduced this bill in 2002 and decided to reintroduce it upon his return to the General Assembly.

Sen. Turner is a professor at Cuyahoga Community College and an AAUP member.