Newsroom
Randi Weingarten: You bend the arc toward justice every day
You have created a mighty, mighty union with mighty, mighty values,” AFT President Randi Weingarten told attendees of the CFT Convention. “You bend the arc towards justice every day. Now we have a fight like never before, a fight to the finish, and we must win.”
Accreditation reform: Final blows to the ACCJC
College presidents support move to new accreditor: On March 17, community college presidents from across the state struck a decisive blow with a more than 90 percent vote to reform the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges and prepare to move to another accreditor. This vote of the presidents confirmed the consensus that the ACCJC is no longer widely accepted in its community, and does not meet the needs of California public higher education.
Educators work to preserve education funding, extend Prop. 30
CFT members collect signatures to place vital measure on November ballot]
Passing Proposition 30, officially known as the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012, turned years of cuts into a period of growth, CFT President Josh Pechthalt said at the CFT Convention. Not extending the law would be a huge setback for the state.
Rank & Files, Feb-March 2016
Linda McAllister, a sociology instructor at Berkeley City College and member of the Peralta Federation of Teachers, Local 1603, was one of four professors honored by the California Community Colleges Board of Governors with a Gerald C. Hayward Award for Excellence in Education, a designation that comes with $1,250. McAllister has sought access for traditionally underserved student populations, and piloted a program to recruit recent community college graduates with masters’ degrees to teach in the community colleges. She also developed curriculum, scheduling, and degree alignment so working adults could meet their degree goals.
Local Wire, Feb-Mar 2016
LOCALS 1481, 1493, 3267
Schools our students deserve… More than 250
parents, teachers, school staff, students, and community members
attended the “Schools Our Children Deserve” conference at Skyline
College on March 19 to hold a four-hour conversation about what
should be happening in North San Mateo County public schools.
Freeway Flyers: Local action & quick news
Campus Equity Week draws attention to inequities among faculty in higher education and calls for economic justice, job security, and institutional support for contingent and part-time faculty. Originally organized by the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, these October events aim to bring greater awareness to the precarious situation for contingent faculty in higher education, organize for action, and build solidarity.
Will you be eligible for unemployment this summer?
By Grace Chee
At the end of each semester or academic term, full-time faculty go on break, while adjunct faculty become unemployed or underemployed — still working and making less than $600 per week — until the next semester or term starts.
During these periods, you may be eligible to receive unemployment insurance benefits of up to $450 a week, for up to 26 weeks per year in California.
One conversation at a time: Part-time faculty join the union in record numbers
By Linda Sneed
As a CFT vice president and representative of part-time faculty in my district, I’m pleased by the efforts made by my local union and the CFT to strengthen member engagement and outreach. The CFT “Building Our Power” campaign is helping locals do a better job of not only sharing information with bargaining unit members but seeking their input.
Do you know what to do during a campus emergency?
Part-time faculty identify needs for further training and information
How much do you know about maintaining a safe and secure environmentwhere you teach? If you don’t know your campus’ safety and security protocols and expectations of faculty in emergencies, do you know where to find them?
Soon after an isolated incident at Sacramento City College in September that left one person dead and another hospitalized, part-time Sociology instructor Angelo Williams began thinking about campus safety, what he needed to know, and how to support students in the wake of the event.
Food service workers serve up fresh attitude
Staff and menus adapt to changing culture of nutrition
Something good is cooking in campus cafeterias, and the recipe includes happier staffs. From school kitchens in Berkeley to community college taquerías in San Diego, classified AFT locals are raising wages and winning full-time status for food service employees.
Worksite organizing fires up classified local unions
Member-organizers motivate fee payers to become full members
Across the state, classified employees are convincing fee payers to upgrade to full union membership, and convincing coworkers to support the union’s Committee on Political Education, or COPE.
The flurry of internal organizing falls under the twin banners of the Strategic Campaign Initiative and Building Our Power. Grants from the former help locals meet their political organizing goals, while the latter awards grants based on potential for member growth.
Classified Conference highlights: Proud to be classified, three staff named Members of the Year
At the annual conference held October 9-11 in San Jose, there was a smorgasbord of learning opportunities for attendees. Classified staff and paraprofessionals took advantage of the offerings, which were both informational and social.
Assemblymember Tony Thurmond, representing the East Bay’s 15th Assembly District described his hardscrabble upbringing and his path to becoming a state legislator. He also told how being a member of the West Contra Costa School Board helped him understand the essential work of classified employees.