19 September, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Last week my summer job teaching at the university ended and I already lined up another job! I feel special. I don’t know why people in London are always clamoring for my services, but I’m not complaining. I feel sad the university job is finished (they only need extra part-time staff during the peak summer period), but I found a job at a little college run by a major language school, teaching essay writing and other academic skills to international students. I think it’ll be fun.

Another reason I’m sad the university job is over is because being a part-time instructor (or what Americans call an adjunct) at a British university pays a motherload. The job I had teaching for the university here pays more than any job I’ve ever hard before in my life. Not only that, but get this. Because of an EU directive, part-timers get one hour of holiday pay for every twelve hours of teaching. So I’ve just raked in several hundred pounds in holiday pay for what was a two-month job.

Contrast this with my American job. I’ve been working part-time for this company for nearly three years; earlier this year I got a promotion, so that shows I do good work. What benefits have I gotten during these three years of hard work? Not one single solitary cent. Zilch. Nothing. And if I complained about this (as people have), they’d tell me that if I don’t like it, they’ll just replace me with someone else. This is really just a reflection of the American employment situation in general, particularly for those working part-time, which is really a way for employers to avoid providing health insurance. In every field I’ve ever worked in, I’ve been paid peanuts and worked to death.

Some of my British colleagues were complaining about the part-time pay at the university and I was stunned. I told them they should work as an adjunct at an American university if they want to know what low pay is. From my experience, being an adjunct at an American school is like working in a sweatshop for those with advanced degrees. One time I figured out how much I was making to teach a certain course (teaching, grading, admin work) and by the hour, I could have made as much money working at Burger King. No joke. The dirty little secret of the American university system is that much of the teaching is done by poorly paid wage slaves who are exploited and abused. When I was an undergrad, our adjuncts went on strike. Needless to say, the whole university shut down.

I’m sure there are plenty of British university instructors who have horror stories about being paid poorly and exploited. I was working for a major university, so I’m sure that made a big difference. But I’ve been out of college for more than ten years and this is the first time I’ve ever had a job where I felt my skills were respected and valued. I was treated as a professional and paid accordingly. I’ve never experienced that before now. That’s pretty sad.

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1. galdfleye Says:

   September 20th, 2007 at 8:56 pm

   Can’t blame you one single bit, George W. Bush’s America is the land of Social Darwinism. The wealthy get huge tax breaks, Ivy League educations, and golden parchute retirement packages while the poor and middle class get slashed social services, combat duty in Iraq, and lose their pension and health benefits. And you thought Conservatives rejected Darwin, ha!!!!

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