Dear Ranked Faculty Colleagues:
We are writing to ask for your support as we slowly approach the last stages of bargaining over the unranked faculty contract. Administration has told us not to talk to you, but you are our colleagues and we believe that working together is important.
We have been negotiating with the Administration since January 2015. Much of the contract has been tentatively agreed to, however, our core issues still remain unresolved: course assignments, job classifications, compensation, and benefits.
The two sides continue to see the issue of job security very differently. The administration’s side wants to maintain more or less the status quo of how unranked faculty have always been treated at CCA: semester-to-semester contracts for most adjuncts and lecturers, no long-term commitments, “up or out” employment regardless of performance, no predictability in courseloads. Everything would remain at the whim of the provost.
The college asks us to be dedicated to our students, our teaching, our programs, and the school itself, but insists upon an employment model that leaves most of the people who teach at CCA constantly searching for employment elsewhere, wondering if they will lose their jobs every four to six months. This is an employment model that is explicitly designed to encourage high turnover and low commitment to teaching itself.
We formed a union to change a system that treats us poorly. We are not temps. We are not disposable. In fact, adjuncts recently have settled contracts at Mills College, St Mary’s College, and Dominican University, in the same region with the same union, that addressed the very same concerns we have here at CCA. Why should working conditions be worse at CCA, a school with social justice in its mission statement?
Unranked faculty should have one- to three-year appointments that provide us with a measure of job security. Unranked faculty deserve better compensation that reflects professional respect and, more importantly, a living wage. Administration has not made any counterproposals on any financial issues.
Until Administration is ready to address our clearly defined core priority, we will not be able to reach agreement. Thus far, they have refused.
If Administration hears that ranked faculty stand with us on the core issues of job security and improved fair compensation, they might be more motivated to rethink CCA’s treatment of its unranked faculty. Many of you have spoken to us privately in support of our union, which we appreciate, but the people who need to hear from you right now are Steve Beal and Tammy Rae Carland. Letters, meetings, phone calls, or emails to them would truly help. The school’s current policy is unfair and untenable. Please let them know you support job security for adjuncts and lecturers at CCA.
Thank you for your support.
The Non-ranked Faculty Bargaining Team
Alisa Golden
David Skolnick
Hugh Behm-Steinberg
Rob Hugel
Noga Wizansky
The Contract Action Team
Anita Amirrezvani
Eduardo Pineda
Elin Christopherson
Ines Lejarraga
Lauren Elder
Lauren Wooley
Michael Stevens
Paula Levine
Steve Dickison
Carol Manahan
We are writing to ask for your support as we slowly approach the last stages of bargaining over the unranked faculty contract. Administration has told us not to talk to you, but you are our colleagues and we believe that working together is important.
We have been negotiating with the Administration since January 2015. Much of the contract has been tentatively agreed to, however, our core issues still remain unresolved: course assignments, job classifications, compensation, and benefits.
The two sides continue to see the issue of job security very differently. The administration’s side wants to maintain more or less the status quo of how unranked faculty have always been treated at CCA: semester-to-semester contracts for most adjuncts and lecturers, no long-term commitments, “up or out” employment regardless of performance, no predictability in courseloads. Everything would remain at the whim of the provost.
The college asks us to be dedicated to our students, our teaching, our programs, and the school itself, but insists upon an employment model that leaves most of the people who teach at CCA constantly searching for employment elsewhere, wondering if they will lose their jobs every four to six months. This is an employment model that is explicitly designed to encourage high turnover and low commitment to teaching itself.
We formed a union to change a system that treats us poorly. We are not temps. We are not disposable. In fact, adjuncts recently have settled contracts at Mills College, St Mary’s College, and Dominican University, in the same region with the same union, that addressed the very same concerns we have here at CCA. Why should working conditions be worse at CCA, a school with social justice in its mission statement?
Unranked faculty should have one- to three-year appointments that provide us with a measure of job security. Unranked faculty deserve better compensation that reflects professional respect and, more importantly, a living wage. Administration has not made any counterproposals on any financial issues.
Until Administration is ready to address our clearly defined core priority, we will not be able to reach agreement. Thus far, they have refused.
If Administration hears that ranked faculty stand with us on the core issues of job security and improved fair compensation, they might be more motivated to rethink CCA’s treatment of its unranked faculty. Many of you have spoken to us privately in support of our union, which we appreciate, but the people who need to hear from you right now are Steve Beal and Tammy Rae Carland. Letters, meetings, phone calls, or emails to them would truly help. The school’s current policy is unfair and untenable. Please let them know you support job security for adjuncts and lecturers at CCA.
Thank you for your support.
The Non-ranked Faculty Bargaining Team
Alisa Golden
David Skolnick
Hugh Behm-Steinberg
Rob Hugel
Noga Wizansky
The Contract Action Team
Anita Amirrezvani
Eduardo Pineda
Elin Christopherson
Ines Lejarraga
Lauren Elder
Lauren Wooley
Michael Stevens
Paula Levine
Steve Dickison
Carol Manahan