A representative from the American Federation of Teachers was on campus in front of the president’s office on Monday, recruiting part-time and full-time teachers to support unionization on campus.
According to Representative Linda Cushing, a former part-time art instructor at Cerritos College, two-thirds of all instructors on campus are adjunct, or part-time, faculty.
Cerritos College is the last of the 108 community colleges in California without a union.To established a union, 50 percent plus one of faculty members must agree to unionize.
Cerritos College now employs approximately 280 full-time and 475 part-time instructors.
Professor Arnold Winokur, a part-time instructor in the physical education department, is in favor of the unionization.
“I have worked here since 1978 as a part-timer and have only been given slight consideration. When it comes to the workload, I do all the same work as the other instructors and yet I don’t get the same status with regard to pay and benefits and such,” Winokur said. “It seems like a crime that I do all these various and sundry things, and yet I am still looked upon as kind of a second class instructor.”
Winokur has worked part-time at Cerritos College while being employed as a high school teacher. He is now retired and carrying additional units. He has also had problems with the IRS over whether he is considered an employee or an independent contractor.
Dr. Jane Harmon, incoming Cerritos College president, said, “I am in support of making sure that people receive fair pay and benefits. I will support the faculty any way that I can.”
Some of the issues that AFT would like to have addressed by administrators on campus are equal pay for equal work, part time faculty health benefits, seniority and rehiring rights, paid office hours, and fair resolution of disagreements.
According to Cushing, part-time faculty make about one-third of what full time teachers receive. Part-time teachers are paid only for the time they are actually teaching on campus, and they do not receive compensation for lesson preparation, grading papers and out-of-class time with students.
AFT supports part-time faculty being paid the same as full-time faculty members for the same work.
“Part-time faculty make on an average about 37 percent of what full-time faculty make for teaching the same class, even though part-time faculty have to have exactly the same academic credentials and they have the same responsibilities in the classroom as full-time faculty,” Cushing said. “They don’t get paid $1 for any time spent working outside of class.”
In 1997, the state legislature declared that all California colleges should provide medical benefits for part-time faculty members and in some cases have matched funding for these benefits up to 50 percent. Part-time instructors at Cerritos College now receive no medical benefits.
Another issue AFT would like to address is seniority rights of part-time instructors. Many professors at Cerritos College have taught for 10 to 20 years and are still designated as temporary employees. AFT would like experienced faculty to have preference in rehiring.
Presently part-time teachers are not paid for office hours on campus. If a school district negotiated paid office hours, the state will reimburse the district for up to 50 percent of the cost for part-time faculty that teach at least a 40 percent teaching load.
Also according to Cushing part-time faculty need to rely on administrators when it comes to conflict resolution. AFT would like to see a conflict resolution program implemented with a fair way to resolve disagreements.
Cushing states that all faculty, not only part-timers, will be afforded stronger protection in employment contracts with the district if a union is in place.
For additional information, Linda Cushing can be reached at (714) 526-7220 or interested parties may access the AFTs web site at www.cft.org/ccc-n.
