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Volume 38, Number 2 n February 2007

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Community College Initiative Campaign turns in signatures

page 5

Healthcare for all?The governor’s health care proposal is a boon forthe insurance industry, but not for the rest of us.

page 4

Defender of the underdogMeet Shannon Wilson, CFT field rep in the Central Valley.

page 3

Q&A with PortantinoThe new chair of the Assembly Higher EducationCommittee talks with The Perspective about his goals.

page 7

Community College Council of the California Federation of TeachersAmerican Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO

The California Federation of Teachers is an affiliate of the American Federation ofTeachers, AFL-CIO.

The CFT represents over 120,000 educationalemployees working at every level of educationin California. The CFT is committed to raisingthe standards of the profession and to securing the conditions essential to providethe best service to California’s students.

President Mary Bergan

Secretary-Treasurer Michael Nye

Perspective is published three times during theacademic year by CFT’s Community CollegeCouncil.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE COUNCIL

President Marty Hittelman Los Angeles College Guild, Local 1521 2550 North Hollywood Way, Ste. 400Burbank, CA 91505 Email martyhitt@aol.com Direct inquiries regarding the Community College Council to Marty Hittelman.

Southern Vice President Jim MahlerAFT Guild, San Diego Community CollegeLocal 19313737 Camino Del Rio South, Suite 410San Diego, CA 92108

Northern Vice President Dean MurakamiLos Rios College Federation of TeachersAFT Local 22791127 - 11th Street, #806Sacramento, CA 95814

Secretary Donna NaceyLos Rios College Federation of Teachers,Local 22791127 - 11th Street, #806Sacramento, CA 95814

Editor Fred GlassLayout Design Action Collective

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONSDirect editorial submissions to: Editor, Community College Perspective.California Federation of TeachersOne Kaiser Plaza, Suite 1440Oakland, California 94612Telephone 510-832-8812 Fax 510-832-5044Email cftoakland@igc.org Web www.cft.org

TO ADVERTISEContact the CFT Secretary-Treasurer for a current rate card and advertising policies.

Mike Nye, Secretary-TreasurerCalifornia Federation of Teachers2550 North Hollywood Way, Ste. 400Burbank, CA 91505 Telephone 818-843-8226 Fax 818-843-4662 Email CFTMikeNye@aol.com Although advertisements are screened as carefully as possible, acceptance of an advertisement does not imply CFT endorsementof the product or service.

Perspective is a member of the InternationalLabor Communications Association, and AFT Communications Association.Perspective is printed and mailed by the all-union,environmentally friendly Alonzo Printing in Hayward, California. It is printed on 20% post-consumer content recycled paper using soy-based inks.

2 n PERSPECTIVE February 2007

EDITORIAL

MARK YOUR 2007 CALENDAR

March 16-18 CFT Convention, Los Angeles

March 29-April 1 AFT Nat’l Higher Ed Issues Conference, Portland, OR

April 16-17 CA AFL-CIO Legislative Conference, Sacramento

May 4-5 CFT Executive Council, Burbank

May 11 Community College Council, Manhattan Beach

May 12 CFT State Council, Manhattan Beach

The need for this was neverclearer than at the Januarymeeting of the CommunityCollege Board of Governors.The Board reluctantly approvedemergency regulations for theallocation of enhanced fundingfor non-credit offerings—eventhough they understood theseregulations to make little sense.The Department of Finance“forced” the community collegeSystem Office negotiators toaccept language that was muchmore restrictive than therequirements under SB 361 inidentifying courses that wouldqualify for increased fundingper full-time equivalent student.The emergency regulationsrequired that all funds so desig-nated must lead to a “non-creditcertificate of competency” or a“non-credit certificate of com-pletion.” Neither of these cer-

tificates are currently availablein most of the community col-lege non-credit programs, nordo they make sense.

The other faculty organizationrepresentatives and I advocatedfor allowing enhanced fundedprograms to have a goal of mov-ing students into the credit pro-gram.The Board was too afraidof how the Department ofFinance might react to anychanges in the regulations thatthey had not agreed to. TheBoard made clear that they rec-ognized that the regulations thatthey approved were not in thebest interest of non-credit stu-dents.They will try to makeimprovements when they passthe permanent regulations. Itshould be noted that the gover-nor did not propose to includeany further enhancement fundsfor non-credit.

Finally, this is my last columnin The Perspective. I am not run-ning for re-election to the officeof president of the CommunityCollege Council. It has been myhonor to serve you as presidentof the CCC in 12 of the last 16years. It is time for someone newto take on this leadership role. Ihave enjoyed representing all ofyou even though it was alwaysan up-hill battle. Perhaps some-day we will have a governor thatunderstands the need to properlyfund our community colleges aswell as address the low percent-age of full-time faculty nowemployed.We need to continuethe fight for part-time equity inpay and benefits as well as rightsto continue in an assignment. Ihave done my best but there isstill much to be accomplished. Ithank all of you for giving methe opportunity to serve.

Persevere.

The governor proposed a“bold” initiative on health carefor all Californians (see page 4).His proposal, if enacted, wouldrequire that every person in Cal-ifornia have health care insur-ance.The proposal does notprovide the funding to makesuch coverage comprehensiveand affordable. His proposal thatemployers pay 4% of payroll tocover their employees’ healthcare is much less than mostemployers pay.This could lead toemployers reducing the level ofcoverage that they provide theiremployees or just eliminate theemployer-based insurance com-pletely.There are few provisionsin the governor’s plan to containmedical premiums or skyrocket-ing profits.The CFT continuesto support a universal singlepayer health care system such asthat contained in SenatorKuehl’s SB 840.

I have been representing CFTat the meetings of the CaliforniaHealth Care Coalition (CHCC).If your union and district havenot yet joined the coalition, you

should do so now.The CHCC isworking to control costs by pro-viding information on costs andquality at individual hospitalsand with individual doctors.They will be bringing out a pre-scription drug program thatshould reduce district costs.

The Community College Ini-tiative (CCI) will have qualifiedfor the June 2008 primary bythe time you read this column(see page 5). It proposes tochange the way that the com-munity college share of Propo-sition 98 funding is determined,from the current inappropriateK-12 grotwth model to com-munity college funding basedon community college enroll-ments.The CCI also wouldincrease the independence ofthe community college systemfrom the Department ofFinance.

The governor has released his proposed Budget for 2007-08. It calls for 4.04% COLA and 2%growth for community colleges. He did not propose funding any of the items that we fought sohard to get in the Board of Governors’ Budget Change Proposal for 2007-08.These items

included funding to increase the number of full-time faculty; increase the funds for part-time salaryequity, office hours, and health benefits; and increased faculty and staff development funds.The budgetbattle will occur after the May Revision of state income, and the CFT will be active in that fight.

It has been my honor to serve you as president of the

CCC in 12 of the last 16 years.

Taking the LeadMarty Hittelman, CFT Community College Council President

Print is nice. Electrons are faster.

The Perspective brings you information you need to know on a quarterly basis. For themost current union news, recent media coverage of education issues, and key informationabout the California Federation of Teachers and its activities, visit the CFT website regularly.

www.cft.orgIt’s not an either/or. Come see us online.

On front cover: Los Rios Community College District instructor DennisSmith turned in signatures for the Community College Initiative at theSacramento County Voter Registration and Elections office. Acceptingthem is Brad Buyse, Campaign Services Manager. Close to a millionsignatures were handed in for counting at registrars’ offices throughoutthe state in January (see story on page 5). OLGA TORRES PHOTO

Persevere in the uphill battle

Statewide union officers willbe elected to a two year term,union policy will be set for thecoming year on legislative,political and academic issues,and delegates will be informedand inspired by the spirited dis-cussion that, as always, animatesthe proceedings. During the

Friday afternoon bank of work-shops, union attorneys BobBezemek and Larry Rosen-zweig will provide an update oncommunity college legal news,and CFT/CCC PresidentMarty Hittelman will steer adiscussion of the Public PolicyInstitute’s Report. On Saturday

at 3:15 p.m., Hittelman will talkwith delegates about “NewFunding for CCC Implement-ing SB 361 (Non-credit AdultEducation),” and Sam Russo, EdMurray, Phyllis Eckler and Deb-orah Kaye will assess “Organiz-ing of Part-Time Faculty toAchieve Activism.”

The Community CollegeCouncil will meet on Fridayevening following the conven-tion reception, which this yearwill celebrate the 20th anniver-sary of the CFT’s Labor in theSchools Committee.The CFTconvention is the highest demo-cratic decision-making body ofyour statewide organization.Don’t miss this opportunity tohelp design union policy for thecoming year.

California Federation ofTeachers Field representativeWillson was hired last summer,and assigned to the CentralValley.“I believe in fighting forwhat’s fair,” she asserts. “We allwant to be treated with respect.”

So it wasn’t unusual that shegot angry after she’d gone towork as an administrativeassistant at Long Beach CityCollege, when she saw hercoworkers mistreated. “They’dmake it hard for us to get hiredfor certain positions,” she recalls.“Then they hired a really anti-union president, and we wantedan organization that was capableof confronting a hostileadministration.”

Willson “studied the regs,” shesays, and in 2000 the classifiedemployees at the college decidedto withdraw from their formerunion and join the CFT. In theeffort to set up a new AFT local,she became chair of the organizingcommittee, and then a provisionalpresident of the new union and amember of its negotiatingcommittee. The local represents400 technical, clerical, custodialand ground operations staff.

Her niche“I really loved it,” she says

now. “I’ve always been someone

who sort of didn’t know what todo with my life. But when Ibecame union president, I felt I’dfound my niche.”

In 2002 she was secretary tothe dean of the School ofNursing and Allied Health atLong Beach City College. LongBeach had just hired a newpresident, E. Jan Kehoe, fromMerced. Up to that point, theunion had been represented for

years on the hiring, budget andfacilities committees. Sharedgovernance was written into theold union contract, andmandated by Title 5 of AB 1725.Kehoe, however, informed theunion that because its oldcontract had expired classifiedunion representatives could nolonger serve on joint governancecommittees.

Administrators locked thedoors of the union office, andtook away release time from theunion officers. Theadministration claimed thatbecause the old union was stilllisted on the documents as staffrepresentative, it didn’t have torecognize the new AFT local. Itrefused to reach agreement on anew contract.

A matter of principleIn November of 2002 a hiring

committee was convened to lookfor a new administrative servicesvice-president. Anyone hiredinto this position would directlysupervise Long Beach classifieds.Willson decided that their exclu-sion from shared governance wasa matter of principle that neededto be challenged.

“I wrote them all letters,” sheremembers,“telling them that Iintended to attend. I even told

the campus police that I wasgoing to do this, and of course Icalled the student newspaper tolet them know as well.” Thecollege’s vice-president ofhuman relations called her up.“You will not go,” he warnedWillson, assuming he couldsimply dictate the rules. “Iwill,” she countered.

At 9 a.m. on November 20,Willson showed up at the roomwhere the meeting was to beheld. The committee chair toldher she shouldn’t be there.When she didn’t budge, hecalled the human relations rep-resentative, Irma Ramos, whotold Willson,“We have to askyou to leave.”

“I told them all, ‘I have everyright to stay. I’m part of thiscommittee,’”Willson says,“butthey warned me they’d call thepolice.” A campus police officerdid in fact show up, and askedher to come outside the roomto discuss the issue. Willsonrefused to give up her seat, and

told the officer she was in ameeting and would happily talkwith him once it was over.

“No one in the room wouldeven look at me,” she remem-bers. “Then he mumbled,‘You’re under arrest. Now willyou come?’ I said I wouldn’tleave unless they put on hand-cuffs and treated me as thoughthey really were arresting me.He reluctantly put on thebracelets, and as I was escortedfrom the room, there was thephotographer from the studentpaper.”

The flash went off. WhenWillson arrived at the policetrailer, the chief told her she’dmade her point, and let her go.“What this really did,”Willsonexplains,“was that it inspiredour members to really getactive. It was like a shot ofadrenalin.”

Long Beach classifieds wroteletters, picketed and packed

February 2007 PERSPECTIVE n 3

“No one in the room would

even look at me. Then he

mumbled, ‘You’re under

arrest. Now will you come?’

I said I wouldn’t leave unless

they put on handcuffs and

treated me as though they

really were arresting me.

He reluctantly put on

the bracelets.”

MEMBER PROFILE

Defending the underdog came early for Shannon Willson. In the fifth grade, she knew what itwas like to be bullied. In the following years, when she saw other kids picked on, shedefended them.

Get current on legal news, public policy, and employment issues relating to community colleges atthe annual California Federation of Teachers convention, to be held March 16-18 at the WilshireGrand Los Angeles. This year’s convention theme is “Members leading the way.”

Shannon Willson's fight to allow classifieds to participate in sharedgovernance at Long Beach City College led to her being handcuffedand removed from a campus building.

Marty Hittelman is steppingdown as CFT/CCC Presidentafter this convention.

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Lessons continued on page 6

The lessons of direct action

Central Valley field rep: Shannon Willson

Community College workshops at CFT Convention

4 n PERSPECTIVE February 2007

POLITICS

Schwarzenegger would requireevery individual to purchase pri-vate insurance, but with no guar-antee that the coverage would beaffordable and adequate. Hewould require employers of tenor more workers to pay a maxi-mum of 4% of payroll to private-ly insure their workers, or paythe equivalent into a state fund.

Unfortunately, the nationalaverage for employer-providedhealth care is over 7% of payroll.In California school districts, theaverage is close to twice that.AsState Senator Sheila Kuehl pointsout, the governor’s proposalwould "at best provide high-cost,low-benefit plans for many Cali-fornians; it limits what employerspay but not what individualsmust pay or what insurancecompanies can charge."

At a moment when publicconcern over our health caresystem is rising in parallel withhealth care costs, the governor’splan places its emphasis squarelyon shoring up the profits of the

health insurance industry.If Schwarznegger’s plan is no

solution, what is? The CFT isworking on three levels toaddress the health care cost crisis:through collective bargaining; incoalitions addressing the worstproblems of the current system;and seeking to replace the cur-rent system with a superior one.

Collective bargaining-based healthcare: just holding on

The old American model ofemployment-based health cover-age—a cornerstone of workerbenefits for the past half centu-ry—is breaking down, a victimof converging trends: decliningunion density in the private sec-tor, with fewer workers coveredby collective bargaining agree-ments, and out-of-control privatehealth insurance cost increases.

Health care cost increases arebeing driven by bureaucraticwaste in the insurance industry,increased profits, and medically

unjustified variation in quality ofcare and patient outcomes.Insurance premiums for familycoverage now average more than$10,000 annually. Since 2001,family premiums have skyrocket-ed by 59%. Corporations aretaking a hard line, seeking to gettheir employees to shouldermore of the costs, and in somecases dumping their healthinsurance programs entirely.

For public sector workers, thepicture, while not yet so dire, isheaded in the same direction.The health care cost spiral isforcing no-win choices upon thebargaining table: do we negotiatea modest wage increase, butaccept employee co-pays thatreduce or eliminate the wageincrease? Or accept flat wages inreturn for keeping health carecost increases at bay?

“Of course we fight at thebargaining table in each districtfor the best possible benefits forour members and their families,”says CCC President Marty Hit-telman. “But that game isunraveling. The solution isn’tjust local bargaining anymore.”

Fixing the worst abuses nowThe CFT participates in sever-

al coalitions that address aspectsof the health care crisis. TheEducation Coalition for HealthCare Reform brings togetherpublic education labor and man-agement groups in California tofind ways of stabilizing costswhile increasing quality. Oneexplicit goal of the workinggroup is to gain efficiency andcost savings by rating hospitalsand bringing people to the goodones.Another shared goal is tostop shifting costs to members ofour bargaining units.We are alsoafter systemic change, rather thanblaming the patient. Ultimatelythe group would like to see asingle payer health care system(see below).

The CFT is also a member ofthe broader California HealthCare Coalition, an organizationof employers, unions and healthand welfare funds, currently rep-resenting 2 million Californians.Like the ECHRC, members of

the Coalition want to reducehealth costs and improve qualitywithout degrading benefits. It iscurrently negotiating withproviders and health plans tocreate a model relationship thatwould raise performance andlower costs, and—a crucial ele-ment—make data on patientcare transparent and accessible tomembers of the coalition.This iskey to holding the plans andproviders accountable.

The CFT is also working in dif-ferent ways on the policy objectiveof a single payer health care system,through the Health Access coali-tion, and in the legislative process.

Single payer bill vetoed by governorIn an historic first, a bill that

would have created a universalcoverage system in Californiapassed both houses of the statelegislature in August of last year.The CFT-supported “HealthCare for All,” Senate Bill 840(Sheila Kuehl), was sent to thegovernor’s desk, where it pro-voked Schwarzenegger to call it“socialized medicine” and veto it.

SB 840 would have providedhealth care insurance for every-one in the state, including thenearly seven million people cur-rently without it. By eliminatingthe private insurance middle-man, which adds 25% in admin-istrative overhead to health carecosts, SB 840 would have been agreat bargain. Health careproviders, public and private,would have continued to func-tion as they do today; andpatients would have continuedto see their own physicians. Theonly change would have beenthat instead of hundreds ofinsurance company “payers,”there would be one: a singlegovernment-administered healthinsurance entity.

In Canada, where such a sys-tem has been in place for several

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The Governor’s Health Care Proposal

First, protect theinsurance industry

decades, the country spends 10%of GDP on health care versusthe US’s 14%, and every Canadi-an is covered. In the UnitedStates there are 47 million unin-sured, and the number has beenincreasing by over a million peryear for the last five years asemployers increasingly shift ris-ing health costs to employees ordump their plans altogether.

In her response to the gover-nor’s veto, Kuehl said that it sig-naled his intent to leavehealthcare in the hands of pri-vate insurance companies and letworking families lose coverageone family at a time, and let hos-pitals close for non-payment ofbills one at a time.

The CFT is determined not tolet that happen, either to itsmembers or the students weserve. It will be working to pre-vent the Governor’s unfortunateideas about health care frombeing implemented.As CaliforniaLabor Federation leader ArtPulaski notes,“This is a plan thatWal-Mart can love and Wal-Martworkers will hate. The proposedemployer contribution is so lowthat even Wal-Mart, a corporationknown for its minimal employeehealth care coverage, alreadyexceeds the requirements.”

Sheila Kuehl will reintroduceSB 840 this year, and CFT willwork to support its passage. Sheacknowledges that withSchwarzenegger in the gover-nor’s chair, single payer won’t besigned soon. But she, like CFT,views the legislative effort as anopportunity to educate the pub-lic about the nature of the prob-lem and the best option forhealth care reform. Whenenough voters know the realstory, single payer will becomethe solution for California’shealth care woes.

By Fred Glass

On January 8, 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger came up with his proposal to fix our health caresystem, which he calls "a sick old man." Perhaps inevitably, his solution is a body builder's pre-scription: he would put the patient on steroids, pumping up parts of the old system without

addressing its fundamental, underlying problems. Indeed, his solution would only make things worse.

HEALTH CARE BY THE NUMBERSUninsured Californians 7 millionUninsured Americans 47 millionUninsured Canadians 0Schwarzenegger’s proposed 4% of payrollemployer mandate

Current national average employer cost 7% of payrollCurrent California school cost 14% of payrollEstimated average out of pocket $2,788 per yearfamily expenses now

Estimated out of pocket average $2,488 per yearfamily expenses with single payer

% of US GDP spent on health care 14%% of Canada GDP spent on health care 10%

SOURCES: HEALTH ACCESS CALIFORNIA, PHYSICIANS FOR A NATIONAL HEALTH PROGRAM, HEALTH CARE FOR ALL-CALIFORNIA

For the latest info and to get involved in CFT'shealth care reform advocacy, go to

www.cft.org/ home_news/healthpage.html

February 2007 PERSPECTIVE n 5

POLITICS

The Act would improve thegovernance and financing of thecommunity college system, andprotect students from fee increases.

In mid January, the signaturepetitions were filed with the 58California county registrars forvalidation. The official resultswill be announced by earlyMarch. Based on statistical sam-pling completed prior to the fil-ing, more than 70% of thesignatures are valid and the ini-tiative will be qualified. If that

proves to be the case, a constitu-tional and statutory ballotproposition will be on the ballotin the next California generalelection. That could be Febru-ary of next year (yikes!) if the

California legislature acceleratesthe presidential primary, but inany event will be no later thanJune 2008.

Coalition goalsThe California Federation of

Teachers and its affiliated Localsand members were the largestsingle group of contributors tothis effort. Leading the wayfrom the beginning was the LosAngeles College Faculty Guild,AFT Local 1521. Along with

the Faculty Association of Cali-fornia Community Colleges(FACCC) and the CommunityCollege League of California,the L.A. Guild nearly four yearsago joined a coalition known as

the Californians for CommunityColleges. In response to mid-year budget cuts and skyrocket-ing student fees, the goal of thecoalition was to seek a way tostrengthen community collegespolitically, stabilize their funding,and reduce student fees. TheCalifornia Federation of Teachersshares those goals and joined thecoalition shortly thereafter.

The group came to under-stand that constitutional recogni-tion of community colleges as asegment of higher education wasthe only way to remove the“kick me” sign from our back.Further constitutional and statu-tory changes were also neededto achieve the goals of fundingstabilization and student feereduction. Two decades of effortthrough the legislative processhad not produced these out-comes; thus the initiative wascreated. Now that the initiativeseems likely to be headed to theballot, another campaign hasbegun to educate the voters andto garner the endorsements ofkey supporters. Though initialpolling indicates a 63% level of

support without arguments,which moves to 69% after argu-ments are made, a bare bonescampaign is still needed.

In California, a bare bonescampaign translates to just over 2million dollars. Led by the LosAngeles College Faculty Guildand the California Federation ofTeachers,AFT members andlocals constituted the singlelargest group of contributors tothe signature gathering phase ofthis magnificent effort. Manyhave given more than expectedsuch as San Francisco, Los Rios,and Coast. Most have givengenerously, including Glendale,San Diego, Peralta, Cabrillo, SanJose, San Mateo, Palomar, Men-docino-Lake, Marin, and ElCamino. Listing the contribu-tions from every college wouldtake more space than is allowedfor this article but as of the endof 2006, every community col-lege district in the Californiawhere AFT is the bargainingrepresentative, except for one,has pitched in. To borrow fromCharles Dickens,“Please sir, canI have some more?”

Keeping the door openCommunity colleges must not

remain the orphans of publiceducation in California. Weserve more than 2,000,000 stu-dents. They are the sons anddaughters of working people,they are the working poor, theyare the historically disadvantagedand they, like everyone, deserveaccess to the benefits of highereducation and job training. The1960 Master Plan for HigherEducation in Californiapromised an “open door” tocommunity colleges for its citi-zens. Those who would rationaccess to higher education basedon privilege of birth or ability topay rather than ability to benefitdo not believe in that promise.Our continued financial andpublic support of passage of the“Community College Gover-nance, Funding Stabilization, andStudent Fee Reduction Act” cankeep the doors open for genera-tions to come. We can be proudto say that through our union,we made that happen.

By Dennis Smith

Next: The election

Initiative campaignturns in signatures

The group came to understand that constitutional

recognition of community colleges as a segment of

higher education was the only way to remove the

“kick me” sign from our back.

Dennis Smith turns in initiatives in January to Sacramento CountyVoter Registration and Elections office.

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Few California communitycollege districts offercourses in labor education,

and fewer still house labor studiesdepartments: five, to be precise.This makes the new DoloresHuerta Labor Institute, namedafter the legendary co-founder ofthe United Farm Workers, all themore remarkable. The fledgling

center in its startup phase ishoused at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College.

Trade-Technical Collegealready boasts a thriving LaborStudies Department, but itdelivers instruction throughcredit and non-credit laborstudies classes with studentsdrawn mostly from unions. The

Huerta Labor Institute willfunction differently, assistingfaculty in developing curriculaacross academic disciplines anddelivering labor education classes,special lectures, film series andworkshops in all nine campusesof the Los Angeles CommunityCollege District (LACCD).

“The Los Angeles labormovement will have a new wayto spread the good word aboutunions to community collegestudents throughout Los AngelesCounty,” said Dolores Huerta atan announcement ceremony lastsummer.“This is great newsconsidering the important rolethat labor unions play each day inimproving the lives of workingfamilies in Los Angeles County.”

The man hired to transform

the promise of the HuertaInstitute into reality is JohnDelloro, a former communitycollege student himself whotransferred to a universityAmerican Studies program andplanned to return to communitycollege as an instructor. But hefound himself working as a unionstaffer and labor educator insteadfor ten years, before going towork for the Institute inDecember. “I did my PhD in thetrenches,” he laughs.

Although he has only been onthe job for a few months, Dellorohas already set up a series of talksby labor scholars at East L.A.College in conjunction with thefaculty professional developmentcommittee, and set in motion alabor track in the interdiscipliary

Project for Adult CollegeEducation (PACE) program atHarbor College for Fall 2007.

The Huerta Institute reliedheavily in its planning stages onthe expertise of John McDowellof Los Angeles Trade-TechCollege and Kent Wong of theUCLA Labor Center, as well asCarl Friedlander, President ofAFT Local 1521.

The Dolores Huerta Instituteis funded by contributions fromten Los Angeles unions, includingLocal 1521, which representsfaculty in the LACCD. LACCDwill match labor’s contributionsdollar for dollar over that period.

For more information, 213-763-7070, orwww.myspace.com/dhuertalaborinstitute.

LACCD launches Huerta Labor Institute

The classified staff and faculty members of the American Federation of Teachers are on the vergeof making community college history in California. During 2006 more than 1.6 million dollarswere contributed and more than 900,000 signatures were collected in support of the community

college initiative, officially known as the “Community College Governance, Funding Stabilization, andStudent Fee Reduction Act.”

John Delloro with LACCD students.

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6 n PERSPECTIVE February 2007

LEGISLATION

California has been at theforefront of this struggle fordecades, securing many legal,legislative, and contractual vic-tories.Though conditions in ourstate may be better than thosefound in other areas of thecountry, much work remains.California's rapidly changingdemographics, coupled withterm-limited legislators andperipatetic administrators,obliges us to frequently remindthe public about conditions forthe academic labor force, as westrive to change those condi-tions and maintain our excellentpublic higher education system.

We'll be discussing the detailsof the bill at CFT leadershipmeetings and during LobbyDay, and amending it during thecoming months as we secureallies during legislative hearingsand in the state budget process

that lies ahead. In order torestore the ranks of full-timetenure and tenure track faculty,we'll need to make sure that ourcolleges report on the numberof hours of undergraduatecourses taught by part-time,non-tenured, tenure track andtenured faculty in each academ-ic department.Those campusesthat do not meet the seventyfive percent goal will be obligedto increase the share of the totalnumber of hours taught by full-time tenure and tenure trackfaculty such that by 2013 col-leges can meet the legislature'sgoal of seventy-five percent.Westand prepared to assist them,through the collective bargain-ing process, in creating a viable,institutionally based plan tomeet this goal.

Though we've made progresscontractually, and in the state

budget, on the issue of pro ratasalaries, we have more to do.Our bill will ask that each pub-lic institution of higher educa-tion determine a minimumsalary goal for part-time/adjunctfaculty members that is pro-rated to the salaries of full-timetenured faculty members doingcomparable work, includingoffice hours where applicable.Each institution will need toestablish methodology to calcu-late pro rata salary goals subjectto collective bargaining.

We'll also be looking at aprocess under which part-timeand other non-tenure track fac-ulty, after successful completionof a probationary period,receive timely notice of andpriority consideration for part-time and non-tenure trackteaching assignments in comingterms. The process will alsoneed to ensure that qualifiednon-tenure track faculty mem-bers receive consideration fortheir past service when a tenuretrack position becomes avail-able, and that non-tenure trackfaculty accumulate seniority, arenotified of job openings priorto the position being postedoutside of the institution, andhave increased consideration forthe appointment.

We understand, in the mostbasic way, that our teaching con-ditions are our students' learningconditions.We know that col-leges thrust part-time teachersinto situations in which they andtheir students can't thrive, muchless excel.We must work for asolution to help administrations,and ultimately, the legislature, togive our colleges and universitiesthe resources to hire full-timefaculty. In the weeks and monthsahead we must build an organiz-ing committee of members fromall of the higher education localsthat will work on the FACEcampaign, along with the workwe are doing on behalf of theupcoming Community CollegeInitiative.

The FACE campaign will giveus an opportunity to organize

and mobilize our members aswell as coordinate with eachother across locals.To increaseour chances for success, we willneed to reach out to our alliesin the labor movement andincorporate them in meaningfulways, and to create a visiblemessage that connects the legis-lation with negotiations andorganizing drives.These effortswill create momentum to createa Faculty Restoration and Equi-ty fund in the state budget sothat each year institutions canadvance one-fifth of the waytoward meeting the five yeargoals of increasing the numbersof tenure and tenure track facul-ty and ensuring that part-timeand other contingent facultyreceive fully comparable pay and benefits.

Working the FloorJudith Michaels, CFT Legislative Director

A first look at California's Facultyand College Excellence Act (FACE)The trend of college and university administrators to rely on

part-time, contingent or non-tenure track academic employ-ees with disproportionately low salaries and little or no pro-

fessional support to teach college students continues to escalate.Thisyear we are part of a coordinated effort throughout the states to stemthis damaging trend.An American Federation of Teachers campaignwill create awareness about the erosion of full-time faculty and theoveruse of contingent faculty, introducing legislation into severalstate legislatures that mandates a full-time hiring ratio and pro ratacompensation and job security for contingent faculty.

Board of Trustees meetings, dis-rupted board functions and lun-cheons, and joined faculty in ahuge rally supported by otherunions. The late Miguel Contr-eras, head of the L.A. CountyFederation of Labor, showed upwith a mariachi band. Willsonproduced a collage of video clipsof some of the Board’s less hon-orable moments and held a“Board of Trustees Film Festi-val.”After the CFT filed unfairlabor practice charges at thePublic Employment RelationsBoard, alleging bad faith bar-gaining, the district finallyagreed to a fair contract.

Not enough to wait“I learned something very

important from this experience,”Willson says. “It’s not enoughjust to wait while the legal pro-cess runs its course. We couldn’tarbitrate over issues since we hadno contract, and the administra-tion certainly wasn’t stopping itsattacks on us. We had to takesome kind of action to resolvethings, and in order to solve ourproblems, our members had toget active.”

She also learned somethingabout herself. “Some people justcan’t stand injustice,” sheexplains,“and I’m one of them.I wasn’t afraid to lose my job,and in the end, it was kind offun. I had a great time.”

Once the contract was signed,however, the relationshipbetween the union and the dis-trict required many patientmonths to rebuild. “Directconfrontation isn’t always thebest solution to problems,”Will-son says. “We had no choice atthe time, but later we found itmore effective to concentrateon problem-solving.”

After five years as local presi-dent in Long Beach, she wasready to make a greater commit-ment to the union. She appliedfor a staff position as executivedirector for the Coast Federationof Educators, and got hired.

Representing faculty turnedout to be very different fromleading a union of classified

employees. “Classifieds canhave their jobs moved muchmore easily,” she explains. “Fac-ulty have tenure, which meansthey are much more secure. Onthe other hand, faculty haveissues around intellectual prop-erty, right to assignments, 10-year reviews and others.”

Being a staff representativewas also very different frombeing local president. “I had tolearn that the local leader is incharge. A staff role is moreadvisory, and you have to becareful not to overstep, to sup-port leadership as opposed tobeing the leadership.”Willsonalso worried initially that herlack of teaching experiencewould be an issue. “I thought

I’d find an attitude of ‘what doyou know?’ But it turned outnot to be an issue at all.”

Now, as a CFT rep for severaldistricts, she feels that classifiedAFT members are “proud to seeone of their own climbingthrough the ranks.”

Today Willson would like toavoid fights like the one inLong Beach in the districtswhere she works with AFTlocals, preferring to work coop-eratively with management tosolve problems. But if thatproves impossible, her historyshows she knows what to do.

By David Bacon

Lessons from Direct Actioncontinued from page 3

THE FACULTY AND COLLEGE EXCELLENCE ACT (FACE) SETS TWO MAJOR GOALS:1. At least seventy-five percent of the courses taught on each

campus of each public institution of higher education shall

be taught by full-time tenured and tenure track faculty; and

2. all part-time and adjunct faculty shall receive pay and bene-

fits that are equal, on a pro rata basis, to those earned by

tenured and tenure track faculty doing comparable work.

February 2007 PERSPECTIVE n 7

NEWS

The Perspective: What areyour goals as chair of the AssemblyHigher Education Committee?

Assemblymember Portantino:I’m very excited to have beenselected by the speaker for thispost. I campaigned vigorouslyto be chair of the AssemblyHigher Ed Committee. I wantto bring an activist’s approach tosuch an important job. My goalsare to work on creating a seam-less system of education, to helpour students focus more on thehigher end of the system, so thatour community college studentshave access to career options, butalso a window of opportunityfor going on to four-year school.That’s the question I want towork on: How do we make thattransition from K-12 to ourhigher education system seamlesshere in California? The com-munity colleges have a crucialrole to play in that. But there aresignificant barriers right now tothat seamlessness.

One of my goals is looking atbarriers to concurrent enroll-ment, how we can facilitatethose students who want to takecommunity college classes beforethey’re out of high school. Thiswould serve, for instance, stu-dents in rural districts withoutaccess to AP classes, as well asthose not interested in an aca-demic path who wish to exploretheir career options.

The Perspective: What do youfeel is the biggest challenge facing thecommunity colleges in California?

Assemblymember Portantino:The biggest challenge is alsowhat makes the state and itscommunity college system spe-cial; it is open for all.You havethe largest and most diverse

group of post secondary studentsin the world. That presents achallenge: not only how to makecollege affordable for the stu-dents but how to attract andretain faculty prepared for thatand who themselves reflect thediversity of California.

The issue of college affordabil-ity is important, but so is theoverall cost of living in Califor-nia, which presents its own chal-lenges to students. How do theymanage to buy books, put foodon the table, a roof over theirheads, all while paying for andattending school?

The Perspective: What is yourposition on student fees?

Assemblymember Portanti-no: To keep them as low aspossible so we can have thegreatest access for the greatestnumber of people. I am cog-nizant of some of the disincen-tives that the federalgovernment has put in place toaccess, especially in regard toPell grants. I have sent letters toour congressional representa-tives informing them we don’taccept a tradeoff of more Pellgrants for higher fees. Such apolicy becomes an incentive toincrease student fees.”

The Perspective: What is yourposition on the Community College Initiative?

Assemblymember Portantino:I’m cautious when it comes toconstitutional amendments, soI’m going to look at it fromevery angle, and at the end ofthe day when I’ve lookedthrough it thoroughly and stud-ied it completely I’ll make adecision. I’m intrigued andexcited that it’s putting commu-nity college issues at the fore-front. I’m not familiar enoughwith all facets of the initiativeyet. I will weigh in when I’vedone my homework.

The Perspective: What is yourposition on the Faculty and CollegeExcellence Act?

Assemblymember Portantino:I’m very concerned about theover-utilization of part-time fac-ulty and lack of pro-rata pay.I’m happy that CFT has beentalking about these issues withme. Judy Michaels and otherCFT folks have been educating

me, and I’m grateful as a freshmanthat I have been getting educat-ed and up to speed. I certainlythink there is a lot of merit here,and especially on the issue of prorata pay. I’m going to continueto work on these issues, and asthe discussion develops yourfolks and my folks will continueto work together.

The Perspective: Communitycollege funding is in better shapenow than in a few years, but thisremains an under-funded system.How do you propose to change that?

Assemblymember Portantino:How I propose to change it isquantify how to invest in ourchildren’s future. When we werepart of the factory economy, youcould get a high school diplomaand get a middle class job. Nowwe’re in a global high tech econ-omy. We need to rethink howwe fund and what we’re fundingeducation for, and I’m going totry my best to make that hap-pen. I think you’re going to seean overall discussion, a globaldiscussion of funding led by theSpeaker. If we can stimulate thepublic’s trust in the institutionwe’ll be able to move forward.Our children’s future is our mostimportant investment.

The Perspective: If you couldtalk with all of the community col-lege faculty of California, whatwould you say to them?

Assemblymember Portantino:Thank you—for working so hardto provide that first line of highereducation and upward mobilityto such a diverse population. It’sa challenge but I’m glad there arefolks who love being educatorsand are willing to provide thatopportunity for what are oftenthe first people in their family togo to college. It takes a specialperson to have the passion to dosuch important work.

Q and A with legislator Anthony PortantinoFreshman Assemblymember Anthony Portantino represents the

44th A.D., stretching across Pasadena,Altadena,Temple City,Duarte, La Canada Flintridge, and portions of other cities.

Born in Long Branch, New Jersey, he moved to California, workingmany years in TV and film production. He served as city council-man and mayor of La Canada Flintridge, and is a past member of thePasadena City College Bond Oversight Committee. His two daugh-ters attend public school, and his wife Ellen is a vice president of theWalt Disney Company.

“The issue of college affordability is important, but so is

the overall cost of living in California, which presents its

own challenges to students.“

Anthony Portantino is the newchair of the Assembly HigherEducation Committee.

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sultant, had to convince the dis-trict to honor the process.

But tenacity pays off. Whenthe union finally concludedcontract negotiations on January18, it came away with an agree-

ment that would make any localunion proud.

Local President Don Peavy sayshe’s particularly happy about threethings. First, there’s pay. VictorValley salaries will take a big jumpin 2007-8 from $700/unit to$860, in 2008-9 from $860 to$918, in 2009-10 from $918 to

$972, and in 2010 from $972 to$990 plus COLA. Hourly rateswill rise from $40 per unit to $55plus COLA over the life of thecontract. Non-credit faculty willget yearly increases of 2.5%—avictory that the district fought upto the final hour.

In addition to salaries, the

union won a preference list forrehires. Says Peavy,“Nowthere’s some stability fromsemester to semester.” Theunion also gained binding arbi-tration. “We believe it’s anabsolutely remarkable docu-ment for a first contract,” notedthe local president, who teaches

religious studies and served onthe negotiations team. Withhim at the table for Local 6286were Mike Mello, Leo Kelsey,and Carol Bachofner, alongwith CFT field reps Paul Jordanand Mary Millet.

By David Bacon

Victor Valley continued from page 8

Cash for College

Cal Grant deadline approachingSometimes the difference

between success and failure foryour students hinges onwhether they receive thefinancial assistance they need.Your students may be eligiblefor up to $9,700 in Cal Grantaid for the 2007-2008academic year. The Cal Grantprogram is the state’s merit andneed-based financial aidprogram administered by theCalifornia Student AidCommission.To qualify,students must have at least a2.0 GPA, meet eligibility and

financial requirements, andsubmit two forms: a FreeApplication for FederalStudent Aid Form, and a CalGrant GPAVerification Form.Find these forms online atwww.fafsa.ed.gov andwww.csac.ca.gov.

Although communitycollege students have untilSeptember 2 to submit bothforms, the California StudentAid Commission urges facultyto get information out andencourages students to apply assoon as possible. Effective and

timely financial planning willhelp your students to head intothe fall semester concentratingon their studies instead ofworrying where the money isgoing to come from to pay forschool.

Free financial aid workshopsto assist students in theapplication process are up andrunning across the state beforeMarch 2. For local workshoplocations and dates, log on towww.californiacashforcollege.org, or call toll-free 888-CA-GRANT (888-224-7268).

8 n PERSPECTIVE February 2007

Orange CountyNursing education forpeople, or for hospitalcorporations?

Dean Mancina, president of theCoast Federation of Educators,Local 1911, says there are manychallenges in providing nursingeducation to students in theCoast Community College Dis-trict. But one challenge theunion didn’t anticipate was thejoint effort by a large hospitalcorporation and the districtadministration to use those obsta-cles to undermine the union.

“There’s a severe shortage ofnurses, to begin with,” explainsMancina, who’s taught at theGolden West campus for 29 years.“It’s a very high tech field thesedays, and we have a state licensingboard that dictates the parametersfor curriculum, the preparation offaculty, and even limits the num-ber of students in each class totwelve. To teach, you have tohave a masters degree.”

But one of the biggest obsta-cles to nursing education issalary. A nursing faculty memberat Golden West College starts atabout $60,000 a year. In a localhospital a registered nurse canmake upwards of $150,000 ayear with overtime. Recruitingskilled nurses to teach underthose circumstances is under-standably difficult. But, notes

Mancina,“Nursing is not theonly discipline that faces thistype of problem. Other academ-ic disciplines, for instance in thesciences and business, sufferbecause our society doesn’t sup-port community college facultysalaries commensurate with whatprofessionals in these fields canmake elsewhere.”

Nevertheless, the reputation ofthe nursing program at GoldenWest is excellent, and over 150students are on a waiting list toget in. The district says it doesn’thave the money to hire enoughfaculty to accommodate themall. The Board of RegisteredNurses encourages schools topartner with hospitals, and thedistrict has a long-standingarrangement with Hope Hospi-tal in Newport Beach, throughwhich the hospital pays thesalary of a faculty member.

So it seemed like a gift when abig hospital corporation, Memo-rial Healthcare Services, whichoperates many hospitals inSouthern California, announcedthat it would loan one of its ownemployees to expand the dis-trict’s program. There was onlyone catch. When Hope Hospitalpays for a faculty nurse to teachcourses, that person is a memberof the Coast district faculty, anemployee of the district, andenjoys union representation.

Memorial proposed somethingdifferent. The company wantedthe instructor to remain its own

employee, and also wanted to beable to decide, through that facultymember, what the curriculumwould be.

Integrity of the union“At first, we simply were wor-

ried about maintaining theintegrity of our union, and wewanted to make sure that thisnew faculty member would beprotected and entitled to repre-sentation,” Mancina recalls.“The district, however,announced that the personteaching in this new positionwouldn’t be represented by theunion, because he or she would-n’t be a district employee. Thatwas when we started to lookaround to see whether therewere other districts where thissame thing had happened.”

Mancina and the Coast Federa-tion discovered that there wereactually over 50 districts statewidewhere hospital employees wereteaching nursing—people whoweren’t district employees, andweren’t represented by unions.

“In Fresno, the faculty told usthey were living through anightmare. The hospital hadtaken over teaching the program,and their people had no long-term commitment to the districtor to the students; their loyaltywas with the hospital,” heexplains. Most nursing pro-grams, for instance, still teach a“patient-centered model” ofcare. Hospitals, however, espe-cially in the era of managed care,use an “efficiency model” tomake decisions about whatwhere they put their resources,and who is entitled to them.

Poorly served“College nursing faculty nor-

mally don’t want economic

issues governing decisions aboutcare,” Mancina says. “But theteachers coming in from thehospitals want students to getused to the way decisions aremade there, on that basis. Plus,even though there are long wait-ing lists to get into nursing pro-grams everywhere, we foundthat in many cases, hospitalemployees were flying to thefront of the line. We becamevery concerned that our studentswould be poorly served, and thatour own faculty would bepushed aside in this arrangement.”

The union went to the tablewith the district, even whileadministrators were claimingthat they didn’t have to bargainover their decision to implementthe program, just over its effects.The faculty discovered that thedistrict had created a new jobtitle,“affiliated faculty instruc-tor,” to cover the six new posi-tions it wanted to create (threefor nurses, and three for respira-tory therapists). Yet their dutieswould be the same as those ofany other faculty member:teaching, attending committeeand department meetings, andholding office hours.

One example of what loss ofunion representation might meanfor the nursing instructorscropped up during these negotia-tions. An administrator askedwhat the union was concernedabout. Among other issues,Mancina mentioned Article 3 inthe faculty-district collective bar-gaining agreement, governing aca-demic freedom. The administratorreplied,“Oh, these people wouldhave no academic freedom.”

Classic tactics“We went to our local Orange

County Central Labor Council,and they told us these were theclassic tactics used in lots ofother outsourcing schemes,”Mancina says. “We then went toAssemblyman Jose Solorio, whowrote to the Chancellor andspoke to the trustees, and urgedthem to respect union represen-tation. We mobilized peoplefrom our community, and espe-cially our nursing faculty. Finallythe board held a special meetingon this issue.”

At first the district claimed thehospital was refusing to allow itsemployees to be represented byour unions. But finally thetrustees backed down, and agreedthat any new nursing teacherswould have the same representa-tion rights as other faculty.

“This is a good decision, andsets a precedent that other peoplecan use as well, when the samesituation crops up elsewhere,”Mancina declares. “And mostimportant, it shows that we’renot willing to sell people out.”

Victor ValleyVictor Valley gets anew contract

Part-time faculty in Victor Val-ley came to the end of a longroad in January, signing their firstcontract as members of a local ofthe California Federation ofTeachers. And without a doubt,patient work and stubborn insis-tence on rights paid off. Theirnew agreement will make a sig-nificant change in their lives andthose of their families.

Five years ago, part-time facultyin the Victor Valley CommunityCollege District, in the highdesert on the way to Barstowfrom Ontario, decided to jointhe AFT, and formed Part-timeFaculty United/AFT Local6286. Their board of trustees,however, would not respect theirdecision, and so began a longprocess in which instructors hadto fight first for recognition,then for the right to bargain, andfinally for a decent contract.That fight reached its culmina-tion in January, with Part-timeFaculty United’s first collectivebargaining agreement.

In 2002, administrators toldinstructors and other membersof the unit they could only berepresented by the Victor ValleyCollege Faculty Association, anaffiliate of the California Teach-ers Association, which representsfull time faculty there. Two yearslater, part-timers won an impor-tant victory when the PublicEmployment Relations Boardruled that district administrationillegally tried to choose a unionbargaining agent for them.

In the darkest days of the statebudget crisis, the district toldpart-time faculty that it faced apossible budget shortfall, and wascutting their salaries unilaterallyby 10%. Since there was nocontract or certification, the dis-trict said it was under no obliga-tion to negotiate over thechange, or even to justify it. TheAFT organizing committee, tak-ing the decision head on, toldthe district that the uniondoubted the shortfall wouldmaterialize, and in the end,mobilized enough pressure torescind the cut.

An election finally took placein May 2004. By that time, fac-ulty were fed up with theirinability to bargain over themost basic changes in their jobsand conditions. The 540-personunit voted decisively in favor ofPart-time Faculty United.

The district still delayed andhad to be dragged into bargain-ing. During negotiations, itsnegotiators would sign off onitems, only to see trustees thenrescind the agreements reachedat the table. Finally a mediator,and even the district’s own con-

ActionLocal

Members of the San Francisco Community College Federation Teachers, AFT Local 2121, braved arain storm to participate in a San Francisco march with thousands of other opponents of the IraqWar on January 27. Walking with the local’s banner are (from left) Steve Goldston, Ed Murray, LuMarla Dea, and Rodger Scott. Local 2121 joined many other unions in the U.S. Labor Against theWar contingent.

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