Historic labor often happens in what might seem on the surface to be the most unlikely and challenging of organizing and bargaining environments, and nowhere is this clearer than in the example of the Yuba College American Federation of Teachers.

As of June 13th, after a long and challenging two-year campaign Yuba College AFT, a part-time only local secured a contract which not only secured them full time equivalent coverage for faculty working over 40% of a full-time load, but pay parity provisions extending to paid office hours.  Part-time faculty now enjoy the same number of steps and columns on their salary schedule as full-time faculty, and are paid a proportional 80% of what full-time faculty earn.  Office hours are now paid at the instructional rate–a significant leap from just $25 an hour in the previous contract.

In a bit of an understatement, long-time ex-president Elain Robinson stated, “We’re pretty happy with it.”

YC AFT, located in a rural and a moderately conservative district, had long struggled to secure good working conditions for its faculty.  Administration and the Board of Trustees were often indifferent, or even hostile to the needs of its part-time faculty. Further, as a part-time only unit, it often lacked the collective support of its full-time faculty union.

Over the years, most new contracts resulted in full-time and part-time across the board increases which never brought part-time faculty closer to equal pay for equal work. 

But Yuba AFT was able to flip the script by becoming politically savvy and organized, and with persistence, resolve and broader thinking.

As the board of trustees had been consistently supportive of the administration, they acted by putting their efforts into getting board members elected who were more sympathetic and would listen to faculty concerns.  The improved board in turn supported the hiring of more faculty-friendly administrators, especially in HR, as lead negotiator, Joe Radding noted.  

Organizing played a big role as well.  With some faculty living as much as two hours away from the Yuba main campus, and many teaching only online, the key was to engage in outreach, and provide information sessions via zoom, as Yuba Vice president Heidi Walker shared.  These sessions over time served to grow interest, and would help in getting board meetings.  

“Getting people to speak to the board is essential,” said Trevor Krapf, current Yuba president, whose own powerful statement regarding his own experience of being hit with West Nile virus on a camping trip and lacking healthcare was one of many that moved the board. At the board meetings, Yuba members were strategic and at times moderate, yet consistent numbers of speakers giving the facts of their situations, as both Radding and Walker noted. 

“In addition, we worked with other outside organizations, like the Los Rios Faculty Federation,” using the example of Los Rios’s part-time faculty healthcare to “shame them,” said Krapf.

Yuba also looked to assets inside its own local, choosing Joe Radding as its Negotiations chair. Radding, who teaches Economics, had previously worked at a state government agency negotiating on the side of management, giving him an understanding of the admin perspective that helped him to make arguments “with facts,” that made a difference. 

With all this though, it was far from an easy victory for Yuba AFT, for in the end what won a great contract for Yuba was a mix of resilience and resolve.

In spite of AB190, making it possible for part-time faculty working 40% or more of a full-time equivalent load to receive full-time equivalent healthcare at no cost to the district, the district balked. First it stated the local Joint Power Authority, or JPA provider had refused to include part-time faculty. Undeterred, Krapf and his team went to look at the Chancellor’s guidelines on part-time healthcare, and concluded that the district could set up a reimbursement plan for part-time faculty, eventually securing an MOU for a three-year pilot program.  The process would take over a year-and-a-half of negotiations.

For rank-and-file faculty, like Jonathan Ciobanasiu , the prospect of coverage by the district will make it possible for his wife to reduce her workload, allowing him to concentrate more on his online instruction as they will be better able to share parenting responsibilities raising three children.

As for pay parity, it was ironically, not talking about “pay parity,” but “equal pay for equal work,” that won out. “Three times I had gone to the board and made a presentation about pay parity,” said Robinson. “It was like an abstract concept they couldn’t get their head around.”  That’s when Robinson really decided to get at what the real issue was.

“I started talking about equal pay for equal work, and how we (as part-timers) have the same qualifications and do the same work. I also talked about how the poor pay and working conditions of these faculty impacted students . . . When they saw that this was the majority of our faculty, they began to take notice.” Robinson further noted that the message had to be repeated in order for it to sink in. 

All of the above afore-mentioned Yuba members said that while there was both frustration and righteous anger, they kept calm and stayed on point. The results speak for themselves.

There is still work ahead for future negotiations.  Krapf noted that the part-time healthcare program still needs work, and of course, 80% parity, while monumental steps when some faculty were making 40% of their full-time colleagues for equivalent work, is still not 100%. Still, Krapf is upbeat.

“I am confident that we can get to 100% parity in another couple of rounds,” said Krapf. 

Considering what Yuba has accomplished in such a short time, one wouldn’t want to bet against them.