Newsroom
New employees to face reduced retirement benefits
Workers not yet hired will take biggest hit under law passed by legislators with no input from public employee unions
A new law passed in the final hours of the legislative session makes sweeping changes to public employee pensions that impose most of the changes on workers not yet hired, creating a two-tier system in the workplace where two groups of workers doing the same work receive different retirement benefits.
Community stands with beloved City College of San Francisco
Report faults school for having too little money and doing too much for students
In early July, more than 300 people packed a San Francisco meeting hall to express their outrage over a letter from the Accrediting Commission for Community & Junior Colleges saying City College of San Francisco must prove its fiscal stability by March 15 to remain accredited.
Skyrocketing student debt clouds lives and futures
Documentary reveals human impact of trillion dollar student loan crisis
Watching Default: The Student Loan Documentary, movie viewers feel the emotion when a borrower chokes up talking about how he can’t ask the woman he loves to marry him because he wouldn’t want her to share the burden of his debt.
Pasadena support staff gain power, respect with AFT
Change from independent union carries many advantages of size and service
Strength in numbers, access to more resources, and professional assistance are just a few of the reasons more than 240 professional classified staff members at Pasadena City College voted AFT their union this spring.
Reflection from the frontlines of the Chicago Teachers Union strike
Unions need strong vision and understanding of all tools available
I thought I knew what I was going to see and do in Chicago. I ended up being amazed and awed, and sometimes moved to tears, by the tremendous strides educators just like us were taking all around me.
The way forward: Greatness by Design
Over the past year CFT was a proud participant in developing the recommendations of Superintendent Tom Torlakson’s Educational Excellence Task Force and we applaud the results of this lengthy process.
No on Prop. 32: Don’t let billionaires take away our voice
California voters appear poised to reject a November ballot measure that would ban political contributions by payroll deduction, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. Forty-four percent of those surveyed said they opposed Proposition 32, which would eliminate the main fundraising tool of unions. Just 36 percent said they supported the measure.
Legislature fails to pass meaningful teacher evaluation bill
Opponents don’t care about validity of test scores, only scapegoating teachers
How could a bill that would have improved the teacher evaluation process die in the California Legislature? Assembly Bill 5, “A Best Practices Teacher Evaluation System,” fell victim to faulty assumptions and reasoning that defies logic. And our schools are poorer for it.
Governor Brown signs bill to improve reporting for adjuncts
The governor signed CFT-sponsored SB 114. Authored by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), this bill helps correct misreporting of part-time faculty work to ensure the right amount of retirement service credit.
CFT bills limit overload, correct service credit reporting, and require rehire rights
In 2012, CFT sponsored three bills that aim to improve the working conditions for part-timer faculty. What are the bills and how can they help you in the workplace? Find out in the recap below.
Coalition on Academic Workforce says unionized part-time faculty fare better
The recent results of an ambitious survey undertaken in 2010 of contingent academic workers provides a fuller picture of national trends affecting part-time instructors. The Coalition on the Academic Workforce designed its study to capture data about all contingent (non-tenure track) instructors but focused on part-time faculty working at post-secondary institutions.
San Francisco defends part-timer progress during accreditation crisis
Though faculty and students at San Francisco City College are fighting to keep their college open following a report from the Accrediting Commission for Community & Junior Colleges, Local 2121 says changes such as reducing health benefits for part-time faculty are off-limits.