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California School’s Part-Time Staff Says
Part-time faculty members at California’s 100-plus community colleges have been dubbed “freeway flyers” for all the driving they do between campuses to teach enough classes to make ends meet.
Then there’s the business of no benefits and no seniority.
But that’s likely to change soon for 400 part-time faculty members at Mt. San Jacinto Community College in southern California. The group recently voted 219-26 for representation by CWA Local 9400 and is expected to begin negotiating a first contract shortly.
The victory marks the fourth time CWA has organized a part-time community college faculty in California, said Mark Bixler, a CWA staff representative in District 9.
“These people outnumber fulltime faculty three to one but they don’t have any kind of seniority rights, they get ‘leftover’ classes and a lot of them work at two or three different colleges or have other kinds of part-time jobs because they’re not earning enough money,” Bixler said.
Organizing part-time faculty workers is especially challenging because the turnover is high and rapid. “It takes a lot of chasing around, tracking people down,” he said. “Every semester, you’re guaranteed that some people won’t be back. It’s like organizing a moving target.”
The process took about four years, intensifying in 2000, said Jeff Finley, director of public sector units for Local 9400. “We camped out in the faculty workrooms early last year for about a month and talked to everyone we could,” he said, noting that organizers had unusually good access on campus.
“We’ve had really good rapport with the college,” Finley said. “There was no anti-union campaign. Everything was above board and professional.”
Finley said Local 9400 President Michael Hartigan, 9400 Steward Margaret Porras and the college’s inside organizing committee were essential to the campaign’s success. The committee members were Sasha Moore, Robert Carlton, Wallace Edgerton, Suzanne Gretz, Mick Gronek, DeAnna Jensen, Robert Melsh and Garnet Birch.
Then there’s the business of no benefits and no seniority.
But that’s likely to change soon for 400 part-time faculty members at Mt. San Jacinto Community College in southern California. The group recently voted 219-26 for representation by CWA Local 9400 and is expected to begin negotiating a first contract shortly.
The victory marks the fourth time CWA has organized a part-time community college faculty in California, said Mark Bixler, a CWA staff representative in District 9.
“These people outnumber fulltime faculty three to one but they don’t have any kind of seniority rights, they get ‘leftover’ classes and a lot of them work at two or three different colleges or have other kinds of part-time jobs because they’re not earning enough money,” Bixler said.
Organizing part-time faculty workers is especially challenging because the turnover is high and rapid. “It takes a lot of chasing around, tracking people down,” he said. “Every semester, you’re guaranteed that some people won’t be back. It’s like organizing a moving target.”
The process took about four years, intensifying in 2000, said Jeff Finley, director of public sector units for Local 9400. “We camped out in the faculty workrooms early last year for about a month and talked to everyone we could,” he said, noting that organizers had unusually good access on campus.
“We’ve had really good rapport with the college,” Finley said. “There was no anti-union campaign. Everything was above board and professional.”
Finley said Local 9400 President Michael Hartigan, 9400 Steward Margaret Porras and the college’s inside organizing committee were essential to the campaign’s success. The committee members were Sasha Moore, Robert Carlton, Wallace Edgerton, Suzanne Gretz, Mick Gronek, DeAnna Jensen, Robert Melsh and Garnet Birch.