NLRB sides with part-timers at Victor Valley College

Victor Valley Community College violated labor laws when its board voted to incorporate part-time professors into the full-time faculty union without the part-timers’ consent, officials said Wednesday.

An administrative law judge wrote a tentative decision—called a pre-ruling—on March 6 that could become final if the college does not appeal it. For now, the board’s decision on union membership is put on hold and the full-time professors’ union, California Teachers’ Association, can’t represent the part-time professors until a labor board rules, said Bill Greulich, spokesman for the college.

VVC officials are waiting for a recommendation from their attorney before they decide whether or not to appeal the decision, Greulich said.

If VVC does appeal the decision, it will go before the Public Employment Relations Board, and it would take at least two months before the board would rule, union officials said.

The American Federation of Teachers filed a complaint with the labor board in February 2002, following the board of trustees’ decision. The union was in the process of trying to organize the college’s 350 part-time faculty members at the time of the decision.
The union and some part-time faculty members want an election to decide which union will represent the part-time professors. They object to the trustees’ decision because it took away the right for part-timers to decide for themselves, union officials said.

“We thought we were following the process and apparently the administrative law judge disagreed with that process. And so now we wait and see,” Greulich said.

Though the pre-ruling is a victory for the union and part-time professors, they know VVC can still appeal the decision and draw the process out, said Linda Cushing, a representative for the part-timers’ union.
The part-time faculty wants the opportunity to decide on their representation for themselves, Cushing said.

“I think it’s pretty clear that we are supposed to have an election,” said Allen Gildard, a part-time professor
at VVC.

VVC administration isn’t against the part-time professors choosing their union, Greulich said.

“The administration does not have a stake in who is going to represent the part-time instructors—that is up to them,” he said.

The decision made by the administrative law judge echoes a recent ruling the labor board made concerning College of the Canyons and the Santa Clarita Community College District. It affirms the part-time faculty and AFT’s position that the college did not remain neutral when it included the part-time faculty into the full-time faculty union, Gildard said.