Oregon's COCAL Committee

by P.D. Lesko
The Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL) sprang forth from the National Congress of Adjunct, Part-time, Graduate Teaching Assistants and Non-Tenure Track Faculty. The National Congress met in Washington, D.C. in 1996. That same year, graduate student members of the Modern Language Association held a caucus and a panel discussion titled, “Making the MLA More Proactive” in part-time faculty issues. In 1998, the National Congress held its second meeting at CUNY, in New York, and renamed the group “The Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor.” It was at that meeting the first real leadership was elected. The next year, in Boston, COCAL members from area colleges met and, for a time, COCAL was based in that city.
Then, in 2001, COCAL moved west, and leaders of the California Part-Time Faculty Association, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, hosted COCAL IV, in San Jose. COCAL V saw the group cross the border and into Canada. The meeting, at Concordia University, in Montreal, was the first held outside of the United States. In 2002, COCAL-California was founded. By the time of COCAL VII, in Vancouver, British Columbia, presenters included representatives of the major education unions in the United States and Canada: AFT, NEA, and AAUP and CAUT. Representatives from four universities in Mexico attended, as well.
There was discussion of holding COCAL VIII in Mexico City. However, the 2008 meeting is scheduled to be held in San Diego, California, instead. There are now COCAL state groups in Massachusetts, California, Illinois and Oregon.
According to the group’s web page, the Oregon Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (Oregon COCAL) is “a group of contingent higher education faculty in Oregon that seek equity with their full-time faculty brothers and sisters in wage, benefits, working conditions, and job security.” The group was founded by four part-time faculty, Barry Edwards, Teri Pastore, David Rives and Rosemary Teetor, who have formed the group’s Steering Committee. All teach part-time, and all got involved to create a coalition of part-time faculty who can work together state-wide to advocate for better working conditions, pay and job security. Adjunct Advocate talks with Oregon COCAL’s Barry Edwards, David Rives, Teri Pastore and Rosemary Teetor.
1. Tell us a little about yourself and how you became involved with COCAL in Oregon.
Barry Edwards: I have been a contingent faculty member in Oregon since 1992, starting as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Portland State University’s Mathematical Sciences Department. I have also taught at Mt. Hood Community College, Portland Community College, Marylhurst University, and one term at the Walla Walla College School of Nursing as a Statistics Instructor. I currently teach at Mt. Hood and Portland Community Colleges.
I started working in contingent faculty advocacy in 1996 by becoming an officer in the Mt. Hood Community College Part-time Faculty and Tutor Association, an affiliate of the National Education Association. Over the next several years, I held all of the offices of that local’s Executive Committee except President….As a labor leader in Oregon, I evolved in understanding of community college issues and contingent faculty issues in particular. The group of four labor leaders that is now the Steering Committee of Oregon COCAL begun to meet and discuss the plight of contingent community college faculty late in 2006. Oregon COCAL is one of the results.
David Rives: I’ve been teaching English as a second language for over 15 years, mostly as an adjunct. I have been active in AFT Local 2277, where I’m currently a Vice-President for Contract Administration, and I wanted to have a network for contingent faculty in the state where we could discuss issues and coordinate actions.
Teri Pastore: I am a writer and have an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles In December of 2000 I was awarded an Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship for a novel-in-progress.
For the last ten plus years I have taught writing in Portland Oregon’s metro area community colleges. I also sometimes teach at Portland State University.
Barry Edwards, a co-founder of COCAL and I both teach at MHCC and became involved with the contingent faculty, local serving on its executive team, albeit at different times. We had occasion to talk, attend OEA Community College UniServ meetings and generally kvetch about the state of contingent faculty locally and nationally.
At one point in my teaching career, enrollment fell considerably, and the availability of summer courses was scarce. As a result of this last minute income shortfall, I applied for unemployment and was denied due to two Oregon statues, which restrict “educational employees” from collecting unemployment. The reasoning behind the origin of the statues was to prohibit double dipping, in other words, prohibiting full-time instructors from collecting unemployment during the summer as well as collecting a full-time salary. Unfortunately, contingent faculty, janitors, bus drivers, cafeteria workers also fall into the category of “educational employees. Furthermore, these statutes are not germane to Oregon but are endemic nationally.
The consequence of this experience, had it not been for the support of my parents, was I could have lost my house. Meanwhile, that same summer my next door neighbor had lost her job as a manager at a local Starbucks, but she made it through the summer and then some due to the unemployment benefits she had earned and had no difficulty accessing in her time of need. This experience was the proverbial straw that launched my desire to advocate on behalf of Oregon’s contingent faculty.
Rosemary Teetor: After wandering through half a dozen occupational fields….I got my Masters in Adult & Continuing Education and set about to “build capacity” at Clackamas Community College, where I’ve been teaching for seven years. I teach pre-college reading, Adult Basic Ed, GED and study skills. I got involved in the Part-Time Faculty Association after receiving help for a problem I encountered, and have been very heavily involved ever since (President for 3 years, bargaining team for just-completed contract). I started going to statewide meetings, which led to meeting Barry, David and Teri. Our conversations led to the formation of Oregon COCAL with David Rives of Portland Community College, and they led to the official formation and recognition of the Oregon Education Association Contingent Faculty Caucus. The caucus’ mission is to organize, educate and advocate on behalf of OEA contingent faculty members. Oregon COCAL is aimed at all part-time, adjunct, non-tenure track faculty in Oregon, whether affiliated with a union or no
2. On your web site, it says that: “The Oregon Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (Oregon COCAL) is a group of contingent higher education faculty in Oregon that seek equity with their full-time faculty brothers and sisters in wage, benefits, working conditions, and job security.” Though this may seem a bit simplistic, why should temporary faculty, who have not gone through the same rigorous hiring procedures, gone through the processes of evaluation/tenure and, in the case of those who do not have a terminal degree, be compensated equally with faculty who have done those things?
Rosemary: In most cases, part-timers have at least a master’s degrees. We are hired and evaluated every term, regardless of how many years we have been teaching for the same college, and at the end of each term, our contracts end and we are, effectively, terminated. I have a “formal evaluation” every three years. I am, frankly, somewhat puzzled that this does not seem rigorous enough. At my school, full-time faculty are evaluated every three years, not every term….
David: ….If an institution already pays according to qualifications, then those principles should apply equally to tenured and non-tenured, full-time and adjunct. Hiring and evaluation procedures should be equally rigorous, regardless if you’re teaching just one class or six classes….Your question points out that it has become accepted that colleges don’t have to bother with proper interviews or regular evaluations for the majority of instructors….
Barry: A little farther down on that same page of our website it says, “We are building a network of contingent community college faculty in the State of Oregon.” So let’s first note that the focus of Oregon COCAL is contingent community college faculty. There are the same degree requirements in the hiring of all community college faculty, regardless of employment status. Also, most contingent faculty are not “temporary….” Long-term contingent labor in Oregon’s community colleges…has become the norm.
Both faculty groups are evaluated, in many cases just as rigorously. So the real issue is not how faculty are hired, it is how they are treated after hire. If a faculty member is doing the same work, on a per class basis, shouldn’t s/he get the same compensation? Admittedly, full-time faculty have “non-instructional duties” that many contingent faculty do not….Note, however, that contingent faculty are beginning to take on some of those “non-instructional duties” as part of the obligation of employment. So…I ask, “What, then, is really the difference between full-time tenure-track faculty and contingent faculty?”
Teri: While contingent faculty do not always go “through the same rigorous hiring procedures” as their full-time colleagues, we are still charged with the same responsibilities of providing a quality education for our students in our respective fields….
3. In the United Kingdom, all part-time employees are paid a pro-rata salary and benefits. This came about through national legislation. Wouldn’t a drive to change the way all part-time workers are compensated have more success than working within your own industry (higher education), one state, one college, at a time?
Teri: No doubt….This issue is not even in the margins of America’s to-do list, and yet its negative consequences are widespread….Before there can be national legislation, there has to be public awareness. Politicians, parents, business and community leaders, colleges, both affiliated and unaffiliated, and full-time colleagues first need to be made to care about this issue.
David: That’s a great idea. It’s something we could pursue through the North American Alliance for Fair Employment. Contingent employment issues are something we share, as professionals, with many in the high-tech profession….
Rosemary: ….To try to take on all part-time workers everywhere would be to dilute our efforts beyond the point of usefulness to the depths of futility. Perhaps, over time, other groups of part-time workers will see that what we did, first, was to get organized within the labor union movement.
Barry: This approach might make a lot of sense, if all community colleges were funded and run the same….I would love to have such a panacea to fix the problem of abusing contingent labor for all industries. It would be nice to enjoy such a fix before I retire. But the likelihood is nil. Remember, this is the United States….Nationally, little is going to get done until our national leaders have the political will to do the job.
4. Why did your group decide not to affiliate with any particular education union or group?
Barry: The group that became the Steering Committee discussed many ways of working to improve conditions for contingent faculty….We decided that to be true to the COCAL movement, we need to be something more than another affiliate of a union.
David: I see COCAL as a way for people from different unions and associations to come together and share information and resources.
Teri: We wanted to create a resource center for contingent faculty that was inclusive and had a presence. We wanted to create a place dedicated to assisting contingent faculty without limitations.
Rosemary: We decided not to affiliate Oregon COCAL with a specific union for two reasons: 1) internationally, COCAL units are not so affiliated, and 2) we wanted to get information out to all contingent higher education workers, and felt that affiliation with a specific union would preclude that inclusiveness.
5. How did you decide to focus on community college faculty, as opposed to all part-time, adjunct and full-time temporary faculty at four-year colleges, as well?
Rosemary: To be effective, we needed to start where we work: community colleges….We’re new – by the time these responses go to press, the organization will be about one year old. We have a very small budget (in-kind contributions so far, and a small grant).
Barry: Simply put, we didn’t want to “bite off more than we could chew….” If our work was too global, we knew the results would be “burnout” for us all.
6. Barry Edwards has been quoted as saying, “Sometimes in this society, we do things because it is right, even though it costs more money. Equitable pay for contingent faculty ought to be one of those things.” Obviously, in higher education, state funding cuts are a reality. Where would the money come from to pay part-time faculty at the community colleges in Oregon pro-rata pay and benefits? Should full-time faculty earn less? Should tuition be increased? I suppose I am asking if you have done your Econ. homework and whether you can walk us through it.
Teri: Barry’s response says it all….
Barry: In Oregon, you don’t need a business degree to know where the likely funding sources are … or are not. Some say that a sales tax would be the best and easiest funding source. In Oregon, we do not have a sales tax….
Since the Republicans took over control of the state capitol nearly 20 years ago, Oregonians have seen a plethora of tax and fee exemptions, almost all for the rich and advantaged. One hope is that if the Democrats, who took control of the Legislature in 2006, can gain more seats this election cycle, then they can eliminate some or all of these exemptions. That may take some time and a lot of work.
Since the 1930’s, the state Corporate Minimum Tax has been $10. Yes, that is not a typo. Last year, we almost had a bill to increase that tax, but failed due to efforts on the part of some Republicans. Next year’s Legislature may be able to correct that oversight with a modest increase to the minimum. If the political will is there. Many see this as the most likely funding source.
7. Do you think your full-time faculty colleagues support equal pay for contingent faculty?
David: I think many do, particularly if they themselves have experience as adjuncts. Others realize how much their administrative workload has grown, if they are responsible for assignments and evaluations of adjuncts. I don’t think many full-time faculty oppose equity for their contingent colleagues….
Teri: Those that are aware of the inequities are very supportive. However, there are some FT faculty who feel the inequities are justified….
Rosemary: …I believe they support us. My recent experience has been that full-time faculty at my college were more interested in arguing about the method we used to arrive at equity comparisons than in understanding that the inequity exists and is pervasive….
In some cases, full-time faculty feel threatened by contingent faculty activism. This is unfortunate….
Barry: Many do support equal compensation for equal work. More are apathetic or offer lip service to the idea….In fairness, I must say that there are a few…labor leaders in Oregon that really do…fight for contingent issues….Michael Dembrow, currently President of the Portland Community College Faculty Federation (a “merged” unit of both FT and Contingent faculty) has been a solid advocate for his contingent faculty….
8. Your stance that contingent faculty simply deserve equal pay flies in the face of a system under which the majority of Americans work, the system of pay tied to performance. Why not make use of the current research in management, and suggest that contingent pay be tied to performance then push for pro-rata compensation?
Barry: …One problem with a merit pay system is that “merit” is based on a number of factors, including the quality of students in the class. Such factors the instructor has little or no control over….Your plan of tying pay to performance, then fighting for pro-rata compensation is like asking the fox into the henhouse, then asking him to leave the chickens alone. The most likely outcome [would be] that administration would use the contingent’s “pay tied to performance” to beat the full-time tenure-track faculty into using the same plan. Contingents would not get pro-rata pay and full-time faculty would be stuck in the same trap as K-12 teachers vis-à-vis No Child Left Behind…Schools and colleges are not businesses. They are training grounds for the future of our nation and our world…..A profit model is totally inappropriate to education at all levels.
Teri: The model of performance pay in education is flawed for a whole host of reasons, and serves primarily to aid management. One only need look at the difficulties inherent in the No Child Left Behind Act, a pay/performance model plaguing K-12….
Rosemary: If you want to use the system of pay tied to performance, then contingent faculty insistence on equal pay for equal work is simply an insistence that we get paid for the work we do….It is both disingenuous and insulting to the day-in and day-out hard work of contingent faculty nationally to suggest that we expect to be paid more than what we work for. We want equal pay for equal work. No more. No less.
9. The Oregon AFT’s 2008 legislative agenda includes these two items:
“Support the Faculty and College Excellent Act to address the shift at our community colleges and universities away from hiring full-time faculty to part-time faculty (also known as contingent or adjunct faculty). Establish equity for salaries and benefits for part-time faculty, including access to adequate and affordable health insurance. “
“Ensure parity in wages, benefits and compensation between part-time and full-time educational employees; and establish competitive salary and benefits for community college and university faculty, to recruit and retain skilled faculty.”
The first agenda item calls for a reduction in the hiring of contingent faculty, and equity for salaries. The second calls for parity in wages. As you may know, in California at some community colleges where equity pay was won and is distributed, AFT locals accepted parity as defined at significantly less than 100 percent. Equity pay became, at one community college in California, less than 70 percent of what a full-time faculty member was paid per course. So, Oregon AFT’s agenda supports a reduction in part-time faculty at community colleges, wants to establish equity pay for part-time faculty, and ensure the use of parity in calculating equity pay. Any comments?
David: Oregon House Bill 2578, the Faculty and College Excellence (FACE) legislation, covered a lot of area. I don’t think anyone was happy with every single provision in it. I have found that many full-time faculty see the creation of more full-time positions as a viable solution. On the other hand, many adjuncts, including myself, see parity as the ultimate solution. So I think both these schools of thought were reflected in the FACE bill. These solutions are something we’ll have to work out amongst faculty. I think the importance of FACE was to get this issue into the state legislature. We can continue to refine our proposals in future legislative sessions.
As far as defining parity, I am familiar with formulas that give part-time faculty a percentage of the full-time workload. 70 percent appears to be on the low side for a community college, but I don’t know who bargained that or what their rationale was. My understanding is that these percentages reflect the teaching load of a full-time faculty, minus the other duties spent on committee work, meetings, advising, testing, and/or research. I think that contingent faculty should be equally involved in these faculty duties, rather than relegated to classroom teaching only. I am impressed by the union at Vancouver Community College in British Columbia (VCC Faculty Association) and how they have achieved a process of regularization of their faculty, where, once part-time faculty become “regular,” they share the same duties as well as pay scale as their full-time counterparts.
Rosemary: First, non-teaching pay must be factored out before a reasonably accurate comparison can be made. If contingent instructors in California got their pay raised to 70 percent of full-time instructors, the pay is probably pretty close to parity.
Regarding FACE legislation calling for fewer contingent instructors, yes, it does. It also calls for a higher number of full-time instructors who would, presumably, be hired from the ranks of contingent instructors. If the loss of contingent positions occurs because many of them get hired full-time, this is a good thing and we support it wholeheartedly.
Barry: My main concern about FACE legislation is the process in which it would be implemented. I am concerned about current contingent faculty and how it would affect their continuing employment. There are many types of people who are contingent. Some just want to teach a class or two to supplement their retirement salary or to “give something back” to the community. Others are working their way through an advanced degree and will end employment after it is completed. Still others piece together a modest living…teaching at a number of institutions as a career.
FACE, at least the Oregon version, doesn’t deal with these differences. One concern is that the career contingents should be somehow grandfathered into full-time tenure-track positions. Other types should have some protections also. The process of change needs to be sensitive to the contingents that are doing so much of the good work in our community colleges. Otherwise, FACE may be just another way to abuse contingent faculty … by putting many out on the streets in the name of parity and a 75 percent to 25 percent (full-time tenure-track to contingent) ratio.
10. On your website, you have a quote that says, “Contingency is a threat to quality….” If contingency is a threat to quality, it is a bold statement, then, to say that higher pay and better benefits are the answer. Even with higher pay and benefits, you would still be a contingent faculty member and, as such, a threat to quality. It is an argument for the eradication of the use of part-time faculty, a stance the AAUP leadership argued for in past. Of course, colleges will never stop hiring contingent faculty. Is the answer to pay equity, then, to have significantly fewer part-time faculty?
David: This is why I see regularization as a solution. I don’t think the quality of teaching, per se, suffers from being a contingent, but students don’t get proper access to their teachers when they are freeway flying at multiple campuses, nor does the department and college get the full participation and input of those teachers. Paying fair and equitable wages would ensure that someone working half-time would get by on a normal teaching load, for instance, by only having to work two half-time positions, instead of cobbling together teaching loads at multiple colleges that amount to well over a regular full-time load.
Rosemary: Better pay and benefits will reduce the necessity of the high amount of traveling required of contingent faculty currently. Better pay and benefits will mean that, for many, the number of institutions at which they must teach to earn a living can be reduced, and a reduction from four to two is substantial; a reduction to one is ideal. The threat to quality goes away when the contingent faculty member can focus all his/her energy in one location and can be available to meet with students one-on-one, can hold office hours and participate in the campus community simply by virtue of presence there.
12. What advice would you give to part-time faculty who want to improve their working conditions and pay?
Barry: You talk of “bold statements” and actions in your questions. You are spot on. As hard as it is for contingent faculty to do just a little bit more, that is what needs to be done. For all that we contingents do, that collectively would be “bold.”
Contingents need to band together at their local colleges and start educating themselves about their issues. They need to seek out others that have had success in improving their pay, benefits, and working conditions. Those people can be unions, COCAL chapters, or other groups that fight for workers such as Jobs For Justice. In short, they need to act.
No one will come in to their college and give them their rights. They have to do the work to fight for them. Others will help, but if there is any lesson I have learned in my work as an advocate for contingent faculty, you have to do the work. Otherwise, you will continue to be an abused class, much like the migrant farm workers of the 1960s, until they rose up and formed the United Farm Workers.
Teri: Get involved with local leadership. Make a phone call to local legislative representatives. Write a letter to the local newspaper. Build alliances with fellow contingent faculty. …Help raise awareness of the profession on campus and in the community.
Rosemary: We too easily forget that such things as 8-hour work days, 5-day work weeks, holidays off with pay, health care benefits and more were all bought and paid for by union members who organized and advocated. Even non-union members have benefited from these gains…..Get organized!