Three Unions Fight Over 1000 P/Timers
In California, one part-time faculty has decided to break away from their current union to achieve quality pay, healthcare benefits, and adequate representation on their own. That decision has created a lot of attention.
United Faculty (UF) has represented Grossmont College in El Cajon and Cuyamaca College in Rancho San Diego since the 1970s, but not for much longer if 1,202 part-timers (395 FTE) have their say. This independent wall-to-wall unit represents the entire faculty, but many part-timers feel their needs have not been met, despite outnumbering full-time faculty almost 4:1.
“Part-timers have had to make special requests to speak at union meetings and then have been asked to leave and treated as though we were intruding even though we are union members,” cites David Milroy, part-time French instructor and Part-time Representative to the Academic Senate at Grossmont.
The part-timers filed a severance petition in July 2006, submitting proof of support from over 50 percent of the part-time faculty. The intended part-timers’ union would affiliate with the Community College Association (CCA), a 43-chapter affiliate of the California Teachers Association (CTA). Since that announcement, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) joined in the ring.
“It’s not that we necessarily want to represent the part-timers, but if there’s going to be an election for a representative, then we want to be one of the choices,” says Jim Mahler, president of the AFT Guild, Local 1931.
Milroy’s movement, however, is not looking for just any
representation. Beyond CCA’s appeal of training, administrative assistance, and legal support, the organization’s support of part-timers is demonstrated by the 5 part-time members on their board, with the previous vice president a part-timer.
“As a whole, it’s a very abusive system so what we do is fight as hard as we can to get [part-timers] as many things as we possibly can,” says Carolyn Inmon, president of CCA. “It’s hard to do, because the bean counters see them as cheap labor.”
Milroy and other part-timers are not paid for office hours or preparation time, for example, just classroom teaching. The 2001 omnibus bill AB-420, specifically for health benefits and office hours, and parity funding are two measures intended to improve working conditions by providing funding to close that gap. Milroy requested documentation from UF outlining Grossmont’s distribution of parity funds. After three years, he received the information directly from the college showing full-time faculty members, including many UF leaders, received almost 50 percent of the funds those first three years.
This results from full-time faculty member Zoe Close tying the salaries together as one of her first actions upon becoming UF president two years ago. With one full-time and one part-time salary schedule, full-time faculty are paid on the part-time schedule when teaching overload classes.
“Every time I go into the bargaining table, whatever I put for faculty goes on all of our schedules,” says Close. That bargaining takes time, but she points out special benefits she gas persevered to obtain. Part-timers have a “Re-employment Preference” agreement with United Faculty, which is a job security, and they are guaranteed interviews for full-time jobs.
“We have always bargained for everybody,” says Close. “Our part-time people are not dissatisfied in any way at all. In fact, we just got a big settlement, things that we have been working on, for an 8.57 percent increase for them and a new specially designed health plan.”
The low-premium, basic benefits plan was specially designed for part-time faculty, but Milroy was informed that the college would not make any contribution. No specifics were given.
Close worries that her faculty are receiving misinformation because the unions just want to increase membership. “Threatened? No, I don’t feel threatened,” states Close.
“I’ve settled these problems in other districts before. I feel that our part-time people are being attacked.”
As such, United Faculty is opposed to the severance petition filed by CCA. Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District takes a neutral stance on the issue. Mahler states that AFT is also opposed, yet AFT filed an intervention petition stating that a separate unit is appropriate but should be represented by them. Verifying the validity of that petition is holding up the investigation, says Eric Cu, Regional Attorney for Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). Once that has been settled, California PERB will examine if is it appropriate under the law for the part-timers to have representation by a different bargaining unit.
“I will be applying a certain standard of law,” says Cu. “In most cases, it’s not illegal for a union to be an ineffective union.”
At press time, no California PERB ruling has been made.
