Advocate Online

NEA Affiliates in Action

Organizing
The Kern Community College District chapter of the California Community College Association will become a stronger voice in its district, following a decision in April by the California Public Employment Relations Board that allows part-time faculty to join the Association. Nearly 800 part-time instructors will be added to the faculty union.

“We’ve worked together for almost three years, so we are delighted with the decision,” said Mary O’Neal, president of what was the full-time faculty association and will now include all faculty. Previously, part-time faculty at Kern’s three campuses, Bakersfield, Porterfield, and Cerro Coso Colleges, were not represented by a union.

“We are committed to parity and equity for full and part-time faculty,” O’Neal says. “This will give all faculty more strength.”

The idea to add part-time faculty to the full-time unit resulted from a general survey of full-time faculty bargaining unit members, which was led by the local leadership, according to O’Neal.

Campus Activities
Iowa lawmakers have passed a $12.4 million increase in general aid, one of the largest in the history of community colleges. Legislators also earmarked $2 million for faculty salary increases next year, about $1,000 per faculty member, on average, in addition to any raises local bargaining teams win at the table.

The Iowa State Education Association will continue to work with legislators to secure an additional $2 million each year for the next two years to bring faculty salaries up from the current 32nd in the nation to 25th.

California Faculty Association members have voted overwhelmingly to accept the tentative contract agreement negotiated by CFA and the California State University Administration. The contract was ratified during a vote of union members in early May in which 97 percent of CFA members voted yes and then approved by the CSU Board of Trustees at the Board’s May meeting. Learn more about the contract at http://calfac.org.

Contracts
After 15 months of negotiations, the 700 Southern Illinois University Carbondale non-tenure-track faculty have their first collective bargaining contract. The new IEA/NEA affiliate, the SIUC Non Tenure Track Faculty Association (SIUC NTTFA) ratified the tentative agreement with a 94 percent positive vote.

Highlights of the contract include a continuing appointment system that kicks in after five years of successful teaching, a 9 percent salary increase, plus equity raises that will reach $300 a month by the end of the contract for those on continuing contracts.

The contract also provides new minimums for the lowest paid instructors, of $800 per credit hour for part-time instruction and  $2,400 per month for full-time nine- or 12-month appointments. In addition, the non-tenure-track faculty won language protecting academic freedom and ensuring recall rights for faculty on continuing appointments.

The Blue Mountain (Oregon) Faculty Association and the Blue Mountain College administration, after years of contentious labor relations, reached agreement on two contracts in April with the help of a private mediator. The parties resolved issues from the 2004–07 contract negotiations the morning after the college was ordered to negotiate by the state labor board. The board had found the college guilty of unfair labor practices based on a complaint filed by the Association and ordered it back to the bargaining table.

In the afternoon, the parties began bargaining a new agreement and by late night successfully completed a new three-year agreement that begins in 2007.

The new pact includes a minimum of 2.5 percent salary increases in each of the next three years, along with several other contractual improvements.