Santa Maria part-timers negotiate numerous improvements

Part-time instructors at Allan Hancock College negotiated an 8 percent pay increase over the next two years starting this spring when all part-time academic employees received a 4 percent salary increase. They will get a 2 percent raise this fall and another in fall 2016. In a tremendous boost, service faculty (counselors, librarians, and nurses) received an additional 20 percent pay increase.

This fall, part-time head coaches in the Santa Maria district will start receiving the same stipend as their full-time counterparts, and credit faculty will see a 50 percent increase in compensated office hours.

In significant non-monetary gains, the union increased the amount of compensated professional development time from 1.5 hours to 2 hours per semester for each semester-length class or its equivalent, secured a new requirement that part-time faculty be informed in writing about the purpose of a meeting with a supervisor or dean to allow for union representation, and added the possibility for part-time instructors to evaluate other part-timers in their discipline when no qualified full-time faculty are available. And a faculty favorite: free on-campus parking.
 

San Diego, El Cajon see pay increases

In El Cajon’s Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, part-time faculty at 50 percent load and above have begun receiving fully paid medical, dental, and vision coverage and will receive a new salary class 2 percent above the current single column.

In the neighboring San Diego district, part-time faculty received a 2.24 percent pay increase across the board — 1 percent greater than the full-time faculty received — and the salary advancement rules were expanded to all six salary classes for continuing education part-time faculty.

Faculty in both districts are represented by the AFT Guild, Local 1931.
 

San Jose/Evergreen charts progress toward parity pay

The San Jose/Evergreen Federation of Teachers redirected some funds allocated for an all-faculty raise to the addition of a new step on the part-time faculty salary schedule, bringing nearly 55 percent of part-time faculty a 1.2 percent pay increase. The union also negotiated that part-timers who attend flex days will receive a full day’s pay for six hours of participation.

In 2013, after Proposition 30 funds reached the district, the union’s negotiations team achieved an increase in pro rata pay for part-timers from 65 percent to 65.75 percent. Part-timer compensation thereby rose by approximately 1.1 percent above and beyond the increase received by all faculty. Six years earlier, the local had bargained successfully to move part-timers onto the full-time salary schedule at pro rata amounts, resulting in pay raises up to 22 percent for part-time faculty.
 

Chan elected to CFT Executive Council

The elected decision-making body of our statewide union — the CFT Executive Council — just gained another part-time community college faculty member. Astronomy and physics instructor Linda (“Lin”) Chan, a member of the Citrus College Adjunct Faculty Federation, was elected to serve as a CFT vice president at the union’s annual convention in March. Chan joins part-timers John Govsky and Linda Sneed on the Council.
 

Dedicated part-timer advocate retires

Sam Russo, community college part-timer for nearly 30 years and president of Adjunct Faculty United, Local 6106, in the North Orange County Community College District for nearly 14 years, will be retiring in May.

One of the founding members of his union, now the largest part-time only local in the state, Russo also represented part-time interests on the CFT Executive Council for 10 years and as chair of the CFT Part-Time Committee for six years. The Part-Timer thanks Sam Russo for his dedication to the struggle for equity and dignity for all faculty.
 

CalSTRS ups training on part-time issues

To better meet the specialized needs of part-time community college educators, CalSTRS is enhancing its training for benefits counselors. By this fall, each CalSTRS Member Service Center will have a counseling resource person trained in the nuances of part-time faculty issues and available to meet the demand for services. CalSTRS Member Service Centers are located in West Sacramento, Glendale, Irvine, and Santa Clara with a new Riverside center slated to open in late July.
 

National Day of Action: What next?

Perhaps you participated in awareness-raising actions at a community college or university on February 25. Maybe you heard or read about these events — in California and throughout the country — and wondered how you might get involved in the future. The Part-Timer wants to hear your ideas!

What makes a successful action? What tactics — buttons, t-shirts, information tables, public speeches, or other creative approaches to educating others — worked best? What would you like to see on your campus or in your community during future coordinated days and weeks dedicated to raising awareness of part-time faculty’s working conditions? How can we get more people to understand and actively oppose the inequalities within our teaching profession?

> Please email your vision to Part-Timer Assigning Editor Linda Sneed.
 

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