Newsroom
CFT’s efforts yield parental leave, more full-time positions, paid office hours, pay equity
If there were perhaps one way to describe the legislative campaign waged by CFT this year as it regards both part-timers and the community college system, one could say it was “spirited.” Despite the sea changes proposed for the entire system, the union still won improvements for part-timers.
Part-timers are still sticking with their union
On June 27, the storm clouds were gathering. The Janus v. ASFCME decision had just come down from the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling, overturning 40 years of legal precedent and marking the abrupt end of union fair share, or agency fee, for public employees.
Now non-union members who benefit from the hard work of unions who still represent them at the bargaining table would no longer be required to pay their fair share.
Plan your local campaign now for Campus Equity Week
The month of October is once again time to give special attention to part-time faculty issues. Officially, Campus Equity Week is the week of October 22-26, but what’s more important is that campus communities get the word out this fall before the legislative process begins.
A Blue Wave — only if we make it happen
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
Years back, my family took a trip to Hawaii. While there, Japan suffered a serious earthquake and we were told to prepare for a tsunami that never materialized. Like the one on my trip, the “blue wave” that could give Democrats a majority in the House and possibly the Senate, might be just as illusory as our Hawaiian experience. Unless we help make it happen.
Choose True Blue on November 6
Vote Thurmond for state superintendent
It’s not every election cycle that California finds itself with critical, competitive races, but 2018 is not just any election year. California is a battleground state to take back the House of Representatives. Jerry Brown is termed out, so voters will elect a new governor for the first time in eight years. And the race for state superintendent pits charter schools against public schools.
CFT members step up to the plate following Janus v. AFSCME decision
On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent and eliminated the right of public sector unions to collect fair share, or agency fees, from non-members.
The justices ruled 5-4 in favor of Mark Janus, an Illinois fee payer, in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, overturning the 1977 precedent established in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. Those backing the case clearly hoped the decision would cripple union operations, but with so much at stake for educators and public education, CFT members have not only chosen to stay united but have gained in strength as a result.
Our fight to win security doorlocks
The CFT’s persistent legislative efforts will lead to greater school safety
In a survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California this spring, 82 percent of public school parents and 73 percent of adults said they are concerned about school shootings. Another poll showed 57 percent of teenagers aged 13-17 were somewhat or very worried about a shooting in their school.
CFT scores major legislative victory by prohibiting for-profit charter schools in California
Gemma Abels, the president of the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers, saw how for-profit charter schools hurt the children and families in her district in Santa Clara County. A school there, Flex Academy, operated by the largest for-profit charter company – K12 Inc. – closed just a few weeks before school started, leaving families scrambling to find places for their children.
Groundskeeper talks about applying chemicals in light of landmark ruling against Monsanto
The Environmental Protection Agency has said the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup and other weed killers is safe for humans when used according to directions. The World Health Organization, however, classifies glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen” and California lists it as a chemical known to cause cancer.
New funding formula risks turning colleges into diploma mills
Stephanie Rosenblatt, president of Cerritos College Faculty Federation, and a librarian at the college, has seen what happened to counselors in her district when performance metrics were imposed on them.
Speaking about the school administration officials, Rosenblatt said, “They want to game the system – they don’t care if it’s quality counseling – they just want a bunch of education plans. The education plan is supposed to be the artifact of an important conversation, but they just want to check off these productivity measures,” she said. “Our counselors have master’s degrees and some have PhDs – they went to school for student contact, not to be chained to their desk all day, writing education plans.”
Rank & Files
Sept-Oct 2018
PAUL H. KARRER, a retired member of the North Monterey Federation of Teachers, Local 4008, published a 58-page fully illustrated booklet The Baby Flight about an orphan delivery he – an American teacher in Korea – made to the United States one Christmas Eve. Over 400,000 copies of the story are already in circulation in Chicken Soup, Open My Eyes Open My Soul and numerous periodicals.
Lessons for Labor Day 2018: Solidarity works!
By Jim Miller
It has been the worst of times and the best of times for the American Labor Movement in 2018.
Economic inequality has continued to spiral out of control as policy coming out of Washington, D.C. designed to tilt the scales in favor of the rich and corporations weakened the rights of working Americans at every turn. At the Supreme Court level, anti-labor justices joined the assault against labor and undermined public sector unions’ rights to collect dues. This, combined with a tax bill that radically redistributed wealth upward and paved the way for new austerity measures aimed at gutting Social Security and Medicare, had some pundits sounding the death knell for unions and the legacy of the New Deal.