We are excited to announce that we signed Tentative Agreements (TAs) on four articles that will TREMENDOUSLY improve Part Time Faculty Job Security!!
(A TA means the two sides have reached agreement that neither side can retract; ultimately membership will need to vote to approve the changes)
Here are a few highlights. To read the Articles, including changes, please reference our Issues Tracker, and click on the link in Column B next to the corresponding article.
- Career Ladder: Changes to Article 3 mean that PT faculty will now be given preference in the FT hiring process. Preference will take the form of 1) a guaranteed interview for PT faculty who meet the listed success criteria and 2) advancing PT candidates who are Step 5 or higher ahead of an external candidate if they both meet the job criteria equally.
- Job Security: Class assignments for PTers will now be based upon seniority as defined in Article 4, and except in the case of specific department needs, no new PT hires will be initiated thereby keeping the PT job pool tight. Beginning Fall of 2024, PT faculty may teach up to .92 FTE over Fall, Winter, and Spring terms and up to .82 in the Summer as part of a pilot program.
- Just Cause for Discipline: Articles 22 & 23 have historically stated that PT faculty who are not assigned classes and not protected by an MYC have no recourse when not assigned classes, even when they have successfully taught at the college for years or even decades. Changes to Articles 22 & 23 mean PT faculty are no longer “at will” employees, and the principles of just cause applied to almost all other employees at the College will now apply to PT faculty as well. If the college does not follow the class assignment process, we can file a grievance!
Friday’s wins are because you continue to show up-not only to observe bargaining but to the board meetings, rallies, and by signing the strike pledge.
The FFAP bargaining team also continued discussion on Article 6: Hours and Workload. The teams heard powerful testimony from FT librarian Meredith Farkas (read it here) and from Shannon Baird (FDC for BCT) (read it here). Both statements reinforced the professionalism of APs and faculty in counterpoint to the College’s insistence on telecommuting agreements and top-down scheduling that both undermine that professionalism and our ability to meet student needs.
At the end of the meeting we moved on to economics where the College provided their cost estimates of twenty-one items in our economic proposal, which covers items ranging from COLA to sick leave accrual for PT faculty to FDC compensation. The FFAP bargaining team is working on our own costing as we believe many of the college administration’s numbers are exaggerated. For example, their estimate included health insurance premiums rising by 5% per year despite the fact that state law prohibits premium increases of more than 3.4% for public employees.
Members have demonstrated an amazing amount of solidarity between employee classes. The great strides we just made for PTers were only possible because FT Faculty and APs fought alongside their colleagues and understood that gains for any class of employees at PCC are beneficial to us all (and our students as well!). We know that PTers will stand alongside their colleagues in the fight for professional autonomy in our contract.
It will take all of us showing up in Winter term for FFAP to win the rest of our very reasonable bargaining demands.