Topic: Collective Bargaining

Article

Relief for Hard-hit Staff at El Camino College

Not a single member of AFT Local 6142 was furloughed during the Covid pandemic, but the economic crisis hit El Camino College staff hard, and many received notices of 10% increases in rent as soon as eviction moratoriums ended.

“Five union members have told me they live in their cars, and another member was picking cans out of the campus trash cans to buy medicine for his children,” said Local 6142 President Roy Dietz. “That’s humbling, to tell someone about the state you’re in.”

Relief is on the way. 

Article PT campaign part-time faculty
FAQ

FAQ: Part-time faculty healthcare, collective bargaining & state budget
Answers to common questions

Updated September 27, 2022

This year we won a historic expansion of state funding for part-time community college faculty healthcare, increasing state support from $490,000 to $200 million in ongoing funding.

The funding will enable local community colleges to provide quality, affordable, and accessible healthcare to substantially more part-time faculty. Local unions should now prepare to go to the bargaining table to negotiate the healthcare implementation.

Article lecturers librarians
UC-AFT President Mia McIver

Retrospective: Organizing to win in tumultuous times
Reflecting on five years of union gains for UC librarians and lecturers

By Mia McIver, President, University Council-AFT

When I was elected president of University Council-AFT in 2017, I never could have predicted that the next five years would be as tumultuous as they turned out to be. I also could never have foreseen how our union of University of California lecturers and librarians would organize, build power, win contracts, and accomplish gains that far exceeded my hopes and expectations.

Article coronavirus labor solidarity

Anatomy of a victory: Teachers stand up, insist upon being valued
How the ABC Federation’s work-to-rule campaign succeeded

Ruben Mancillas, chief negotiator for ABC Federation of Teachers, was pleased about getting a 5% raise for teachers in their latest contract, which he says is the single largest increase since the recession. But it’s not only the raise that pleased him.

Local 2317 was headed towards a strike for the first time in three decades, after uncharacteristically tough negotiations with a new school board in place. Instead of a strike, ABC did a work-to-rule campaign, asking teachers to only do what was specified in their contract.

Article coronavirus part-time faculty SCFF
AdFac President Seija RohkeaBarbara Baer

Continued enrollment woes create challenges for part-time faculty
Local unions finding solutions in pandemic-driven tough times

While California is showing strong signs of emerging from an economy ravaged by the pandemic, the community colleges are still reeling from the impact, most strongly demonstrated in the sharp decline in student enrollment. This has led to tough situations for many adjuncts, and for the local unions representing them.

Article lecturers strikes
Randi, Mia and Jeff in a good frame. The rally stage framed by victory signsJubilant chief negotiator Mia McIver, UC-AFT president.Lecturers celebrate the new contract.AFT President Randi Weingarten and Mia McIverCFT President Jeff FreitasLecturers celebrate the new contract.CFT Vice President Kent Wong, UCLA Labor Center

UC lecturers greet new contract as “a game changer” and “only the beginning”
PHOTO GALLERIES
UC-AFT negotiates groundbreaking agreement

The view from Westwood

UCLA — It was about 3 a.m., UC-AFT President Mia McIver recalled, when negotiators for the University of California texted the administration’s “final offer.” McIver knew that all major contract issues, from job security to salary increases, were settled. She also knew that 6,500 lecturers were set to strike at all nine UC campuses in a few hours.

Article lecturers strikes

BREAKING: Strike averted — UC lecturers reach groundbreaking settlement at 4 am

SUMMARY: UC-AFT reached a groundbreaking settlement with UC administration in the middle of the night. The planned two-day ULP strike has been called off.  There will be noon rallies to celebrate today at all nine campuses. 

* * * * * 

Article lecturers strikes

What does a UC-AFT strike look like?
PHOTO GALLERY: Lecturers strike in 2002 for job security

Tenuous system torn apart by denial of three-year contracts to experienced teachers

Anger among lecturers at UC Davis finally boiled over at the end of the spring semester. On May 29 and 30, 2002, non-tenured faculty walked the picket line instead of teaching classes, and turned the campus entrance on A Street into an impromptu educational institution.

Article lecturers strikes

Show solidarity with UC-AFT! Join the ULP strike Wednesday and Thursday

Update: The strike is called off after an agreement was reached in the early morning hours of November 17. See the news story. 

Late Saturday night, the lecturers of the University Council-AFT announced that they have notified UC management that lecturers will take part in an unfair labor practice strike on November 17 and 18. This strike is about a pattern of bad faith bargaining and unfair labor practices committed by President Michael Drake’s administration.

Article coronavirus part-time faculty
CFT officers with officers of Adjunct Faculty United outside campus building, standing socially distancedWest Valley-Mission Federation receiving check from HSBC, all wearing masks

Part-time faculty face loss of work, health benefits in COVID times
Locals negotiate vaccine stipends, reduced class minimums, retention of health benefits

As the COVID pandemic stretches into the fall, community college adjuncts have been hit especially hard by the decline in student enrollment, limited support services, and inadequate or even non-existent access to healthcare. The loss of work, loss of insurance benefits, and even the breakdown of personally financed yet essential teaching equipment have been the tragic results.

Article lecturers contingent faculty
CFT Senior Vice President Lacy Barnes

Lecturers rally at nine UC campuses in statewide action
1700 supporters turn out to stand with lecturers

As hundreds of lecturers, students and other workers at the Berkeley campus of the University of California gathered in front of the MLK Student Center, they began to chant. “UC would not be anything, Without teaching faculty, ME!” Leading them was Lacy Barnes, senior vice president of the CFT, and former full-time faculty member and president of the State Center Federation of Teachers.

Article coronavirus
students waiting for outside class "Engines, Fuel and Ignition"  to beginclassroom with new HEPA filterJason Newman, president of the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers

What’s on everyone’s mind? The return to in-person
From urban to rural, community college locals weigh in

Most faculty members, staff, and students at the state’s community colleges have been teaching, learning, and working online for more than a year and a half due to COVID-19. Many planned to go back to their campus in the fall semester, but after a brief period of hope that the virus was on the way out the delta variant emerged in the summer, and in many areas, COVID is surging again.

Article lecturers coronavirus

Back to the classroom, but no contract
Facing inequity, lack of COVID protections, 96% of UC-AFT members vote to authorize strike

As they have for the past two years, lecturers at the University of California continue their effort to get the administration to bargain a fair contract. The last agreement between the university and the University Council-AFT, expired on January 31, 2020. The union’s negotiating committee has met with UC’s bargaining team on 50 occasions, yet the four most fundamental issues are still outstanding — high turnover rates, lack of performance reviews, widespread uncompensated labor, and compensation itself.

Article lecturers contingent faculty strikes

Job security still on the table for UC lecturers, members vote to authorize strike
UC-AFT keeps the pressure on for fair continuing appointments

Update: On June 1, UC-AFT members voted to authorize a strike, with a “strong majority” of  nearly 7,000 members turning out for the vote, and 96% voting to authorize a systemwide strike should the UC Office of the President fail to meet UC-AFT’s collective bargaining demands.

Article pay parity part-time faculty

How Peralta won the first pay parity in CA community colleges
San Mateo Federation campaign makes big strides toward parity

Equal pay for equal work. It’s a simple idea, but one that has remained all but elusive for part-time faculty, so much so that some have decried the quest for it as a Sisyphean effort. However, the recent gains made by the Peralta Federation of Teachers shows that parity is possible.

Now, Peralta pays its adjuncts at the same hourly rate for teaching and office hours as its full-time faculty — a first in the California Community College system.

Article coronavirus

With COVID on campus, strategic action saves classified jobs
Unions save graveyard custodial shift, defeat layoffs

El Camino College has been slowly resuming activity. Nursing, auto repair, construction and other “essential classes” returned to the Torrance campus in late September, along with scores of custodians, groundkeepers, computer techs and facilities staff.

Returning to normal is another matter. Administrators are trying to eliminate the night shift, even though “graveyard” is typically the busiest time for custodians. Meanwhile, four COVID cases on campus have underlined the pandemic’s ongoing threat, as well as the importance of properly trained and equipped cleaning crews.