The president of the Association of Dowling Adjuncts already knows what will be in the first contract proposal he hopes to exchange with college administrators before summer: a provision for "retention rights" for adjunct professors. It would require that Dowling College adjuncts, after serving several years, would be guaranteed reassignment unless notified and informed of reasons for not being rehired.

"There has to be some kind of continuity in trained personnel," said Russell David, president of the 115-member ADA . The private college in Suffolk County failed to rehire 79 adjuncts last fall. It added 90 adjuncts, many of them at lower salaries.

"We suspect that it was done for financial reasons," said David. "The term before, when we had fewer adjuncts, it was $1.4 million for salaries for the spring term. For the fall term, with at least 20 more adjuncts, our payroll went down to $1.3 million."

The local union, which was formed in 2002, achieved its first contact in 2003, shortly after affiliating with New York State United Teachers. In that contract, the new union gained office space, meeting space, a telephone line and a computer.

Last fall, David said, he too was initially "non-assigned" for the semester. He teaches business computers and math, typically teaching two classes a semester.

Pay for a three-credit class is between $2,100 and $2,700. David fought back and did get his classes reinstated at Dowling.

An adjunct for 15 years, David also teaches as an adjunct at Suffolk Community College . He said could not live on just an adjunct's salary on Long Island — "It's just about enough to pay my taxes."

He is a retired New York City teacher who has fond memories of helping build the United Federation of Teachers in the 1960s, working with union pioneers Charlie Cogen and Al Shanker.

"We will continue to fight until we have as good benefits as full-timers," pledged David.

ADA and NYSUT are awaiting the outcome of a hearing held by the National Labor Relations Board on an unfair labor practice filed for adjunct Kathy Levine. Vice president of the ADA , Levine testified she was not rehired because of her union activism.

In fighting for faculty rights, the local has had trouble getting accurate information about the college's financial status. Often, administrators at private colleges will overstate financial duress in staking out a negotiating position, particularly at colleges where the principles of negotiating and sharing data with a union are not well- established.

NYSUT held a meeting in New York City last month where local leaders from faculty associations at private colleges exchanged ideas and strategies to get information.

— Liza Frenette