Community College Articles
Community College
News and stories of interest for full-time and part-time faculty teaching in the community colleges.
Community College Council Retreat Focuses on Building Power
Community College Council
After a successful retreat last year for Community College Council (CCC) members, Jennifer Shanoski, Northern California vice president of the CCC and a member of Berkeley’s Peralta Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 1603, got in touch with CCC members, asking them if they’d like to do it again. After an enthusiastic response, another retreat was held in San Diego right before the semester started.
The topics people wanted to focus on included running effective meetings, getting involved with local elections, and building a bench of leaders in their locals.
Five critical bills on the Governor’s desk
Please urge Governor Newsom to sign them
***September 30, 2024 Update – Governor Newsom has signed AB 2245 and vetoed AB 2088, AB 2277, AB 2586, and SB 1182**
Five critical pieces of legislation are on the Governor’s desk. Please take a moment to sign the letters below, urging him to sign these important bills.
CFT One Faculty Task Force Vision
Since 2023, the CFT One Faculty Task Force — made up of classroom and non-classroom part-time and full-time faculty from throughout the state — has met regularly to develop a strategic plan to transform the current exploitative two-tier system of faculty in the California community colleges into a one-tier system. As a first step in this process, the task force focused on clarifying what a one-tier faculty structure would look like. As we build a statewide campaign, the work of the task force will be driven by the following Agreements on Principles and Goals, which define our vision.
Heart and Perseverance Revive the California March in March
Students and Faculty bring climate justice, affordable housing and accessibility into focus
On a day with weather bright enough to match their spirits, a throng of over 500 students, faculty, and education advocates marched to the west lawn of the state capitol on March 7 in support of community college students, workers, and climate justice. Bringing back the annual March in March, it was the largest such action in the Capitol by student and community college activists in over a decade.
Bittersweet Legislative Year for CFT Part-time Faculty
Bittersweet would best describe the end results of the 2022-2023 legislative season for community college part-time faculty.
One of the clear positives was the realization of a record 8.22% cost-of-living allowance for California Community Colleges, up .09% from Governor Newsom’s initial proposal of an 8.13% COLA in January. The COLA followed off a fairly robust COLA of 6.56% in 2021-2022.
Part-time Faculty Healthcare Precarity in Two Profiles
A summer vacation and the birth of a child should create happy memories, but for Trevor Krapf and Jennifer Wu, the reality of being part-time and having tenuous healthcare turned both their experiences into financially tragic near misses.
Part-time Healthcare: CFT Locals in the Fight for What’s Morally Right
One year out from the historic passage of AB 190 (the state budget bill for that year), many CFT locals have been successful in securing full-time equivalent medical coverage for their part-time members, while others remain engaged in awakening the moral consciences of their admin and local boards of trustees to do the right thing.
Letter to North Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees
North Orange County Community College District Board of
Trustees
1830 W. Romneya Drive
Anaheim, CA 92801-1819
Dear Trustees,
Following healthcare victory, CFT pursuing new legislative agenda in Sacramento
Following up on our major healthcare victory last year, this year CFT is moving forward in its legislative efforts to improve part-time faculty working conditions and job opportunities.
Speaking truth to power: part-time advocacy at CFT Lobby Day
Progress on part-time issues is not something accomplished only through local organizing and negotiating, but also through direct part-time member legislative advocacy. This year, faculty drove this progress through their advocacy at CFT’s April 26 Lobby Day in Sacramento.
Part-time community college CFT members, most clad in red and wearing jeans as a show of solidarity with Denim Day, were joined that day by dozens of fellow CFT members, including UC-AFT Lecturers, K-12 faculty and staff, and Pre-K, and Early Childhood educators, and retirees.
From north to south, CFT locals win healthcare for part-time faculty
Following CFT’s historic victory to secure $200 million annually in ongoing state funding for community college part-time faculty healthcare, the campaign’s next phase has moved to the bargaining table.
At press time fourteen districts have made agreements to offer healthcare to part-time faculty, with part-timers in twelve of those districts represented by CFT locals. Four of the most recent successes were at the San Francisco, West Valley Mission, Los Angeles, and North Orange Community College Districts. These are the stories of their success.
CFT task force to end the two-tier system in the community colleges convenes
Convening around a bold vision of total systemic reform, CFT has formed a task force that will take a deep dive into our state’s community colleges and develop a strategic plan to end the two-tier faculty system.
Local bargaining for part-time faculty healthcare ramps up
Phase 2 of Part-Time Faculty Campaign kicks off with regional meetings, negotiations training, Campus Equity Week
Securing annual funding for part-time faculty healthcare is an unprecedented legislative win. The next step is to secure that healthcare at the local bargaining table.
Legislative high and low for part-time faculty
Healthcare funding increased in state budget, but higher workload cap vetoed
California community college adjuncts saw the single greatest gain for part-time faculty ever—$200 million in ongoing annual funding for part-time faculty healthcare—but felt bitter disappointment when CFT’s sponsored bill to lift the teaching cap to 85% of a full-time load died for a second time on Governor Newsom’s desk.
AFT resolution asks U.S. Department of Education to conduct higher ed study
Calls for national data about adjunct/contingent pay and benefit inequities
CFT once again demonstrated its commitment to adjunct/contingent faculty by submitting and winning unanimous passage of its resolution “Calling for Department of Education Study of Pay and Benefit Inequity” at the AFT Convention July 15 in Boston.
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.
Faculty push for the face-to-face classes that students want
In-person college classes improve learning, build campus community, and lifelong connections
Joshua McCann much prefers going to campus for his San Diego Community College District classes. Now in his second year and intending to transfer to a UC and major in political science, McCann says connections on Zoom or in your Canvas inbox can’t compare to being with a person in real life.
McCann goes to campus for three out of his four classes. The other night after his philosophy class, he stayed for office hours with the teacher, and ended up having a two-hour conversation about the class with some of the other students.
Join a campaign kickoff meeting on Zoom — Faculty Healthcare Now!
In phase 2, learn how to secure funding for part-timer healthcare in your community college district
We invite local union leaders, activists, and rank-and-file members to please join us and kick off this phase with faculty power!
In Phase 1 of the Part-Time Faculty Campaign, our collective efforts secured $200 million in ongoing funding for part-time faculty healthcare in the California state budget. Now in Phase 2, we are launching coordinated collective bargaining as members begin to mobilize and bargain in their home districts to secure this funding in contracts or MOUs.
Urge governor to increase workload cap for part-time faculty
Ask Governor Newsom to sign CFT-sponsored bill to raise the cap to 85%!
UPDATE: We are disappointed to report Governor Newsom vetoed AB 1856 on September 25, citing cost concerns. Find his veto message here. This action is now closed.
Please take a moment to urge Governor Newsom to sign AB 1856, which will increase the workload cap available to part-time faculty from 67% up to 85% of a full-time faculty workload in California’s community colleges.