Newsroom
AFT unions lead the way in getting equal pay for equal work
Getting to parity
Could the dream of “equal pay for equal work” become a reality for contingent faculty in California? It could if CFT is successful in promoting the passage of progressive legislation, as part of the national AFT campaign to address the academic staffing crisis in higher education.
One of the principles of the the newly introduced Faculty and College Excellence Act (AB 1343, Mendoza, D-Artesia) is pro rata pay — and benefits equal to that of tenured and tenure-track faculty doing comparable work.
No public education by corporation
The privatization assault on public education intensifies
By George Martinez, President EC/K-12 Council
Do you remember the Excellence in Education movement, along with the Time on Task idea, and the Assertive Discipline model? These efforts to bring about educational reform followed the publication of A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Education Reform in 1983 by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. This report popularized many of the privatization notions regarding public education. I refer to this as Phase 1 of the movement to privatize public education.
L.A.’s Collective Bargaining Education Project
Teaches Berkeley High students to bargain collectively
The CFT’s Sandra Weese lends her time and bargaining expertise to the December 5, 2006, Collective Bargaining Institute with Berkeley High School students, seen here caucusing before going back into “bargaining” in a role play developed by Los Angeles teacher Linda Tubach.
The all-day event was held with 30 students at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 104 training facility in San Leandro, with the support of the CFT, Central Labor Council of Alameda County, Alameda County Superintendent of Public Instruction Sheila Jordan, and a dozen coaches drawn from various unions.
The Education Coalition for Health Care Reform
CFT participates in labor-management watchdog group
By Marty Hittelman, CFT Senior Vice President
The CFT and other education labor groups have joined with administrative and school board organizations in the Education Coalition for Health Care Reform to find a way to stabilize costs while increasing quality. The group is determined to address the systemic reasons for high cost and low-quality health care.
We are committed to shifting from just paying higher prices to joint action against industry price gouging and poor-quality health care. CFT Field Representative Greg Eddy and I have been representing the CFT at these joint labor-management meetings.
AB 420: Governor signs historic bill to improve adjunct benefits, mandate study
The largest-ever mobilization of part-time faculty, full-time faculty, and everyone in the union led to the governor’s October 8 signature on the much heralded part-time faculty “bill of rights,” the most comprehensive package of improvements for part-time faculty to date.