Cerritos faculty are taking a stand for equity.

“Right now our college doesn’t provide any sort of health benefit to part-timers,” explained local President Stephanie Rosenblatt. “Most of the districts around us provide at least some sort of reimbursement scheme, in which part-time faculty are reimbursed at even a minimal level for their healthcare premiums.”

One of the local’s themes during this round of negotiations has been equal pay for equal work. Part-timers on the Cerritos campus receive, on average, only 44 percent of what full-timers are paid. And part-time faculty get nothing for healthcare even though the district pays full healthcare premiums for full-time employees as well as those for trustees, administrators, and managers who are not only are eligible for insurance or cash in lieu, but if they choose a healthcare plan that costs less than the cap, they get the benefits plus the cash difference.

The Faculty Federation has been holding regular actions at board of trustees meetings, with the intention of righting this longstanding inequity.