Part-Timer
Part-Timer
Part-Timer promotes the interests of part-time faculty working in the California community colleges. It contains news about the movement to establish better conditions of employment for adjunct faculty, both in California and North America. Browse stories by date here or by index here.
Part-Timer is published twice during the academic year, in the fall and in the spring. The newsletter is emailed to part-time faculty. We welcome unsolicited articles, letters, and story ideas. Please send letters, submissions, or other inquiries to Jane Hundertmark, CFT Publications Director.
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More part-time faculty choose AFT/CFT as their union
Non-credit faculty at Citrus College, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Colleges join locals
Faculty teaching non-credit courses at both Citrus College and the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Colleges have chosen AFT as their union. Non-credit hourly part-time faculty at Citrus and continuing education part-time faculty at Grossmont-Cuyamaca had been paid significantly less than their colleagues teaching for-credit courses.
Now the faculty have union representation, are on salary schedules with opportunities for schedule advancement, and can accrue sick leave.
What does the Affordable Care Act really mean for part-time faculty?
The Affordable Care Act has made it possible for some previously uninsured part-time faculty to get healthcare coverage. For others, coverage has become more affordable. Available subsidies, along with customizable combinations of premiums and deductibles, may make going on the exchange worthwhile.
When do you qualify for unemployment benefits?
If you are teaching summer school, you may qualify for unemployment benefits in the periods before or after summer session. If you do not have a summer or fall teaching assignment, or another job, you may be entitled to unemployment benefits.
This results from a 1989 legal challenge brought by the CFT in the landmark case Cervisi v. California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.
Ancillary pay programs: New strategies for part-timer inclusion on campus
Parity pay — compensation for part-time faculty commensurate with that of our full-time colleagues for comparable work — is one of the defining goals of the movement for part-timer equity. Progress continues to be made, but in lean budgetary times salary schedule advancements may be more difficult to negotiate.
How does your pay rate compare to others?
CFT releases comprehensive salary survey of part-time faculty
Have you ever wondered how your pay rate compares to that of other part-time faculty throughout the state? Who gets paid for office hours and how much? Will you earn more if you have a doctorate? What percentage are you earning of what full-timers make at your college for their teaching duties?
Mark James Miller: Meet one of the hardest working organizers of part-timers
English instructor and president of the Part-Time Faculty Association of Allan Hancock College Mark James Miller says that one of the accomplishments of which he is most proud is “getting administrators to recognize how important part-time faculty are. Part-time faculty used to be invisible to them, or seen as just interchangeable parts. That’s not the case anymore.”
CFT undertakes study of part-timer compensation
Comprehensive statewide analysis will compare pay rates, schedule advancements
In a show of support for part-time faculty, the CFT committed this year to completing the first phase of a substantial study of part-time faculty compensation that may prove invaluable to those seeking stronger contract language for part-time instructors.
Union supports paths to full-time status for adjuncts
Delegates to the annual CFT Convention passed two resolutions submitted by the CFT Part-Time Committee calling for the union to pursue legislation that would help part-time faculty secure full-time employment.
Prop. 30 brings bounty of classes for students, part-timers
The passage of Proposition 30 in November of 2012 has been a boon to part-time faculty at Citrus College in Glendora, beginning with the winter term and continuing uninterrupted into this fall.
Dedicated part-timers take on extra student responsibilities
The fight for fair accreditation
As City College of San Francisco struggles to remain accredited, part-timers have played pivotal roles in maintaining the quality of instruction and services on which so many students depend.
Freeway Flyers: Local action & quick news
Victor Valley part-timers spearhead needed change on campus
AFT Part-Time Faculty Federation has become active like never before. President Lynne Glickstein reports that with the support of the CFT, the union got educated and got smart.
Local scholarship program gives back to students and community
Established in honor of dynamic organizer Linda Cushing
The Linda Cushing Scholarship program launched by Part-Time Faculty United at College of the Canyons recently expanded to award four $500 scholarships per year to qualified students, according to Pete Virgadamo, history instructor and president of the Santa Clarita union.
Get Connected
Organizations and campaigns advocating for contingent faculty
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL
Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL ) An integrated coalition of activists from faculty organizations and unions representing contingent, non-tenured faculty members in all segments of higher education in North-America, with the goals of coordinating activities to educate the public about the inequities of contingent faculty, promoting legislation, and improving bargaining rights, working conditions and education standards.
City College of San Francisco defends part-timers during accreditation crisis
AFT Local 2121 continues the fight to save City College of San Francisco after the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges labeled the college with its most severe accreditation sanction, “show cause.”
Worldwide group of contingent faculty strategize
Faculty face same issues in United States, Canada, South Korea and Mexico
Part-time faculty members of CFT attended the 10th conference of COCAL International, the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, in Mexico City, where California, despite its problems, was held up as a standard for part-time equity.
CFT grants help faculty organizers reach freeway flyers
One-on-one conversations galvanize part-timer participation
How can we convince more part-time faculty that union membership and participation are the single best way to improve working conditions, pay rate, and job security within California’s community colleges? One-on-one conversations, say part-time faculty Natasha Bauman and Sharon Kerr, whose local unions are both recipients of a new grant from CFT. The Member Organizing Committee, or MOC, grant helps locals conduct member outreach and sign up new members.
Prop. 30 victory helps save part-time teaching jobs
Instructors, students and others committed to quality public education in California breathed a sigh of relief with the passage of Proposition 30, the ballot measure that will bring increased revenue to public education and other services through temporary progressive taxation.
CFT wins improved CalSTRS service credit reporting
New law takes effect July 1
In a victory for part-time community college faculty enrolled in the CalSTRS retirement program, Gov. Brown signed into law CFT-sponsored SB 114 to correct the misreporting of retirement service credit.
CFT bills limit overload, correct service credit reporting, and require rehire rights
In 2012, CFT sponsored three bills that aim to improve the working conditions for part-timer faculty. What are the bills and how can they help you in the workplace? Find out in the recap below.
Coalition on Academic Workforce says unionized part-time faculty fare better
The recent results of an ambitious survey undertaken in 2010 of contingent academic workers provides a fuller picture of national trends affecting part-time instructors. The Coalition on the Academic Workforce designed its study to capture data about all contingent (non-tenure track) instructors but focused on part-time faculty working at post-secondary institutions.