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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San Francisco defends part-timer progress during accreditation crisis
Though faculty and students at San Francisco City College are fighting to keep their college open following a report from the Accrediting Commission for Community & Junior Colleges, Local 2121 says changes such as reducing health benefits for part-time faculty are off-limits.
Local unions elect to offer part-timers State Disability Insurance
To date, several CFT locals have elected to implement State Disability Insurance for their members. Part-time faculty in particular could benefit from participation in this program in the event of partial or full disability.
Tips for surviving cutbacks in the community colleges
How to get grant funding
Lisa Chaddock, a part-time geography instructor in San Diego, offered part-timers survival tips in a workshop titled “Finding Funds to Survive Community College Cutbacks,” at the annual CFT Convention. The following are some highlights from Chaddock’s presentation about applying for grants to protect programs and supplement part-timer income.
Organizing faculty and students for action in Oakland
FIRST-PERSON | Janell Hampton
As a part-timer, I had become more involved in my local’s actions and issues because a friend brought me to a union meeting. She is an old school organized labor wonk, and her invitation, offered years ago, put me in a strong position to apply to become an organizer in the CFT program called Political Leaders United to Create Change, or PLUCC. My local union applied for the shared grant-funded position and was awarded a grant.
Teachers as organizers: Part-timers embrace political organizing this election year
This year, part-timers have been active from the classroom to the state level in advocating for higher education funding and the rights of students. Lisa Chaddock, part-time instructor in geography at San Diego City College and Cuyamaca College, traveled to Sacramento in March to testify in the Assembly Higher Education Committee on behalf of AB 1826, which would limit full-time faculty overload to 50 percent of a full-time load.
Three CFT-sponsored equity bills continued in 2012 legislative session
When locally bargained contract improvements seem impossible, statewide legislation becomes an attractive option. Over the past few years, CFT and other education unions and associations have sponsored bills to strengthen part-time faculty job security and improve working conditions. While the ultimate gains of this strategy could be tremendous, the process of passing bills can be extremely challenging.
Freeway Flyers: Local action & quick news
Coast rights injustice for part-timers working in non-instructional positions
After years of patience andpersistence, the Coast Federation of Educators secured compensation for two part-time non-instructional faculty members who were discovered to be working more hours than a full-timer — at a fraction of the pay.
When confronted with these violations, according to Local 1911 President Dean Mancina, the district claimed this group of faculty was exempt from both the California Education Code and the local’s collective bargaining agreement.
Berry says unite now with faculty at for-profit colleges
PROFILE: Joe Berry
Meet Joe Berry. If you don’t know his work, you should.
Author of the book Reclaiming the Ivory Tower: Organizing Adjuncts to Change Higher Education, Berry has worked for decades in multiple states as both a part-time instructor and an organizer of part-time, contingent academic instructors. Recently retired from teaching Labor Studies, he continues to pour his time and energy into the struggle for the rights of the most vulnerable instructors in higher education.
Adjunct faculty issues at the heart of Occupy movement
Occupy and Refund!
Part-time academic workers, who experience economic injustice on a daily basis, figure prominently in the CFT-endorsed Occupy Wall Street and Refund California movements as they call for better pay and working conditions, more robust funding for public services, and an end to the privilege enjoyed by corporations and wealthy individuals.
Larissa Dorman, part-time political science professor at San Diego City College, describes her activism as rooted in her experiences as an advisor to student clubs, an instructor, and a struggling worker.
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.
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.