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ACCJC has taken part-time jobs from San Francisco
With City College of San Francisco still in limbo status due to unfair sanctions from the Accrediting Commission for Junior and Community Colleges, nearly 150 part-time faculty have lost their jobs in the past couple of years and few, if any, part-time counselors have been rehired.
AFT Convention forms Part-Time Caucus
Part-time and contingent faculty throughout the United States now have a stronger voice in our national union with the formation of a Part-Time Caucus at the AFT Convention in July.
Several California part-timers are helping shape this tool to influence AFT priorities and connect part-timers nationwide.
Two new laws will benefit part-time faculty in California
Improved transfer of unused sick leave
Assembly Bill 2295 (Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles) makes it easier for part-timers to transfer unused sick leave from a previous community college employer to a new one by extending the transfer period from a mere one year to three academic years.
CalSTRS offers more assistance with service credit reporting
By Sharon Hendricks, Los Angeles College Faculty Guild and CalSTRS Board Member
To help part-time faculty understand how districts report service credit and to ensure they receive all service credit they have earned throughout their teaching careers when they retire, CalSTRS has opened new centers in Irvine, Glendale, and Santa Clara, staffed by benefits counselors trained to navigate part-time-faculty issues.
Join CFT campaign for office hours pay, full-time positions
How can we get more state funding for office hours, equal pay for equal work, and new full-time positions that that will benefit existing part-time faculty? CFT is calling on part-timers and their allies to urge the governor to include line items in the state budget dedicated to these essential improvements.
Advocate for our interests in providing equal education opportunities for students by writing directly to Gov. Brown and others who influence the state budget. Ask the governor and the Department of Finance for these new resources:
Rehire rights: Long-time instructor describes pain of losing assignment
Outpouring of faculty and student support
What happens when your employer disregards your contractually negotiated rehire rights? Part-time instructors at Oakland’s Laney College recently found out. One of them is Cynthia Mahabir, a sociology instructor and Part-Time Representative on the executive board of the Peralta Federation of Teachers.
West Valley-Mission faculty choose AFT/CFT as their union
Independent association affiliates, brings 750 teachers better union representation
Citing disrespect by their district and low pay as motivation, more than 90 percent of faculty at the West Valley-Mission Community College District casting ballots in the November 19 representational election chose to affiliate their previously independent union with AFT/CFT.
Support staff proud of the many hats they wear
Tom Torlakson thanks CFT members for crucial backing
At their annual conference, the Council of Classified Employees celebrated the diverse work of support staff in a dazzling panoply showing the many hats they wear.
CCE Southern Vice President Carl Williams called out classified job titles one after another. Secretary, paraprofessional, groundskeeper, custodian and media technician. Admissions and records technician, safety officer, library technician, accounting coordinator, and bus driver.
Reinstate CCSF’s elected Board of Trustees immediately
By Joshua Pechthalt, CFT President
A guiding principle in our democracy is that the people govern by electing their representatives to office, whether it’s the president of the 7th grade homeroom, local school board, mayor, president of the country or any other elected office. The American Revolution of 1776 cast aside the authority of a monarchy to govern and put that power in the hands of the people, however incomplete it was at that time.
Californians vote to protect public education
CFT member action keys Torlakson victory and local election victories
On an election day when much of the country swung to the right, California solidified its standing as the progressive bulwark of the nation. Every single statewide office went to the CFT-endorsed candidate. And the main projectile launched by anti-union forces at public education — the billionaire-backed Marshall Tuck campaign for state superintendent of public instruction — went down to defeat.
“The People vs. ACCJC”
A day-by-day report: October 27-31 and closing arguments December 9
Day One: October 27, 2014
San Francisco—After kicking off the day with a spirited early morning demonstration outside the San Francisco Superior Court building, about a hundred City College of San Francisco faculty, students and community supporters moved en masse into the courthouse to attend the opening day of the trial to keep the college open.
More transparency required at community college accrediting agency
By CFT President Joshua Pechthalt
A bipartisan, unanimous vote in the Legislature doesn’t happen every day. So it’s worth noting that Assembly Bill 1942, for fair community college accreditation practices, recently passed 36-0 in the Senate and 74-0 in the Assembly.