New Year, New Organizing Efforts on Campuses.

With some major victories and a new school year dawning, the academic labor movement is revved up. In addition to graduate student struggles, the drive to organize adjunct professors--academia's equivalent of temp workers-continues to gain momentum. In February, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at Rutgers University won a new contract, including a healthy pay increase. At the same time, the Illinois Education Association successfully organized adjuncts at Columbia College in Chicago. The AAUP, the Alaska Public Employees Association and the American Federation of Teachers formed "United Academic Adjuncts" and won the right to bargain for about 1,000 part-timers at the University of Alaska. This increased use of traditional unionism and collective bargaining puts the lie to the tired argument that white-collar types--especially pointy-headed intellectuals--won't go for unions. The struggles of adjuncts don't just speak to issues of higher education but also to the future of the U.S. labor movement, it's not going to be steelworkers or factory employees out there on the strike lines for much longer.