Dear Colleague,
Hello! I am Shelley Chamberlin, a Part Time Organizer with your union, FFAP, and an Art Faculty member at PCC. I hope winter term is treating you well so far. It seems that we are facing a barrage of unprecedented attacks from all directions. I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted. I’m also ever-hopeful about the power we have when we work together. And of course, that is exactly what a union is about: collective power. I am happy to share with you that we are beginning a monthly newsletter where you will be able to find union news and updates, opportunities to get involved, upcoming events, and more! Expect newsletters to drop at the beginning of each month.
We had a wonderful Solidarity Social in December (Free pizza!)
We hope you’ll join us at the next one: Friday March 7, 6pm at Lucky Lab, Hawthorne
We’ve had some big wins and are ramping up for some big fights. As we prepare for our economic reopener this spring, PCC management has been busy spinning tales of budget shortfalls and impending doom. (We’ve all seen this movie before. It’s the same one we see every contract cycle) We hope you’ll join your coworkers in the fight. This union belongs to all of us and we need each other. Now more than ever.
News and Updates
We completed our 23-24 PCCFFAP Annual review. You can see it on our website here.
We officially have a bargaining team for our upcoming fiscal reopener. Please join me in welcoming (and giving a big thank you to) our team!!
- Alex Jordan, FT Faculty in Math
- Frank Goulard, PT Faculty in Math
- Victoria Rau, PT Faculty in Comp/Lit
- Luke Reyes-White-AP Academic Advisor in CTE Programs
- Kris Fink-PT Faculty English
- Michelle DuBarry-AP Grant Writer
- Ben Cushing-FT Faculty Sociology
Recent Wins
Our big contract wins last spring may seem like ages ago now, but we’re seeing the rewards in our paychecks as well as in our offices and classrooms. Here’s just a couple even more recent wins:
- Nursing Faculty stood strong against PCC management demands to Strikebreak at Providence: PCC directed its nursing faculty to cross the picket line of the largest healthcare strike in Oregon History, but we held strong and said ABSOLUTELY NOT. Check this memo from our lawyer in response. It’s a fun read.
- Navbar customization is back! A few days before the start of Fall term, Online Learning changed the D2L navbar in Fall courses to a new centrally-managed navbar and disabled instructors’ ability to customize it for their specific classes. FFAP members approached this issue on two fronts—Organizing and Grievance, and we won!
Opportunities to get involved
- Become a Union Steward! Stewards help coworkers solve problems, educate members on their rights, protect members when there is an issue with management and more.
- To become a Steward, Contact the Lead Steward who represents your employee class:
- Laura Wadlin, Lead Steward-PT Faculty, laura.wadlin@pccffap.org
- Erik Johnsen, Lead Steward-PT Faculty, erik.johnsen@pccffap.org
- Yvette Rosales, Lead Steward-FT Faculty, yvette.rosales@pccffap.org
- Phyllis Petteys, Lead Steward-APs, phyllis.petteys@pccffap.org
- Jacob Richman, Lead Steward-CTE, jacob.richman@pccffap.org
- We’re ramping up for a new contract campaign. You can join us on the Contract Action Team. CAT leaders are a dedicated group of faculty and APs who work to keep everyone informed, connected, and involved in the bargaining process so that we can win the best possible union contract next year. Learn more and sign up to join the CAT here.
- Get involved vetting candidates and more with our Political and Legislative Action Committee contact: davina.ramirez@pccffap.org
- A simple way to get involved with FFAP is talking to new employees in your department about joining the union. Sharing why you joined can really help a new employee understand why becoming a union member is important. You can ask them to join by filling out this brief membership form. If you’d like to help with outreach to new employees, contact Courtney Bailey (courtney.bailey@pccffap.org).
- Check out more ways to get involved here.
Meetings
Winter All Member meeting: RSVP Here
- Sylvania (ST 100) and Zoom Wednesday, February 19⋅4:30 – 6:00pm
- SE (Tabor 140) and Zoom, Friday, February 21⋅12:00 – 1:30pm
Executive Council Meeting
- February 7, 2-4, Climb, 207 and zoom:
(all PCCFFAP members are welcome to attend and observe. Only elected Executive Council members can vote. If you have something you’d like to be discussed/ added to the agenda, please contact PCCFFAP President Ben Cushing ben.cushing@pccffap.org)
Committee Meetings
- Solidarity Committee February 6, 3:30-5:00 Zoom
- Organizing Committee February 10 & 24, 4:00-5:30 Zoom
- Nominations and Elections February 19 2:00-3:30 Zoom
Solidarity (News and upcoming actions)
- Providence Strike is ongoing! Stand in solidarity with healthcare workers in their fight for better care! The longer the picket line, the shorter the strike! Link to Oregon Nurses Association Updates
- AFT-Oregon wins: Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE) at Oregon State won their very challenging strike after holding the line for almost a month. Check out their wins here.
- Graduate Employees Union (GEU) at Portland State won their recent contract just before CGE’s strike ended, and may have been positively influenced by news of CGE’s strike. Here is their tentative agreement, which was ratified in December.
For more information about solidarity and to sign up for the solidarity dispatch contact our solidarity officer Nichole Reding nichole.reding@pccffap.org
Resources
PCC is a Sanctuary College.
From PCC’s website:
In accordance with the designation of PCC as a sanctuary college, we affirm that access to PCC campuses by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) agents creates a risk of substantial disruption of the campus environment and to PCC’s mission to provide “access to quality education while advancing economic development and promoting sustainability in a collaborative culture of diversity, equity and inclusion.”
You can find the resolution at the link below, as well as specifics about how to respond should ICE attempt to enter campus. Please take a minute to familiarize yourself: https://www.pcc.edu/dream/undocumented/resolution/
Connect with us on socials:
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/pccffap.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_pccffap_/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pccffap/
If you have announcements you’d like shared in our next newsletter, please email me shelley.chamberlin@pccffap.org
Until then, take care of yourselves and take care of each other.
In Solidarity,
Shelley Chamberlin
PCC Art Department Faculty
PCCFFAP Part Time Organizer