Transcript:
Good morning. My name is Ben Cushing. I’m a faculty member in sociology at Cascade Campus, and the Organizing Officer for PCCFFAP, our union of faculty and academic professions. Today I’m filling in for our President, Frank Goulard.
To me, it feels extremely good to be here with you all in person. I have deeply missed our community here at PCC.
We have been through very difficult times. Many of us have lost people we love, and all of us have seen transformations in our world, and our work, that have been painful.
I want to acknowledge the hard work of the classified staff of PCC, who have taken care of our campuses, students and innumerable other crucial tasks to keep this college going.
I also want to acknowledge our academic professionals, who have bent over backwards to advise and recruit students, write grants, produce media and support students, faculty and the broader community in all kinds of ways.
And lastly I want to acknowledge the work of faculty who have taught classes from their bedrooms and kitchen tables, who have been on the front lines alongside students facing unemployment, housing insecurity, and racial and economic injustice.
Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen young people, indeed many of our students, re-energize the labor movement. Gen Z workers are organizing at Starbucks. Workers at Amazon warehouses are taking on the richest man in the world, and winning. Nurses, who have been pushed to the breaking point during the pandemic, are standing up for themselves and their patients all over the country. We can find inspiration in these folks – in their courage to fight for a more just and democratic workplace and society.
Here at PCC, our work, creativity and commitment to our students and communities make this college possible.
But while we’ve been in the trenches, major changes have been underway at our college. The reorg, which has certainly made some positive changes, has also caused new problems. And worse, managers implemented it while we were least able to contribute our expertise.
Today, PCC workers have historically low morale. Folks feel shut out of key decision making, and many of our members feel micromanaged and bullied.
Still, despite all of these challenges, we continue to serve our students with compassion and commitment. We continue to run this college… and we do it without hiring a single corporate consultant.
We’ve also seen the ratio of managers to full time faculty grow outrageously out of balance.
Today, PCC has about 400 Full Time faculty members, and about 275 managers. That is a ratio of about 1½ :1.
That’s a lot of bosses, and not nearly enough faculty with stable employment. Around the country, the community college norm is about 3:1, which is bad enough. And we’re not even close.
But still, we know that the worker’s really keep this place running. Take a second and imagine the college without us, with no workers, only managers. The difference would be… striking.
If we’re going to make PCC a better place to work, and a better place to study – if we’re going to win the kind of college that we, our students, and our communities need – we’re going to have to get seriously organized. This is a contract negotiation year. And we’re going to need each other.
I look forward to gathering with all of our FFAP members today after lunch, over in the small courtyard across from the Bookstore and the CT building. We’ll talk more then. I’ll see you there.