NEA Affiliates in Action

The Seton Hall University Faculty Association Organizing Committee is seeking to gain collective bargaining rights for the university's 300 faculty.

Faculty organizers have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board and the New Jersey courts to recognize the faculty's bargaining rights.

A coalition of community college faculty organizations, including NEA's affiliate, the California Community College Association, took dramatic action at the California state legislature recently to underscore their campaign for fair treatment for part-time faculty.

Members of the coalition drove two automobiles up to the steps of the state capitol building in Sacramento to dramatize the plight of the "freeway flyers."

The unions were acting in support of an Assembly bill that would require the colleges to provide pro-rata pay and benefits to part-timers.

A U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly's efforts to prevent Hawaii's Governor Cayetano from implementing a payroll lag.

The Governor ordered the payroll lag in 1997 because of projected budget deficits. UHPA claimed the lag violated the higher ed system's collective bargaining agreement. A district court issued a preliminary injunction, and the state appealed. The Appeals Court has now rejected the state's arguments.

A classified employee at the University of Southern Maine, who became disabled while working in a poorly ventilated building, has won a three-year fight for a Workers Compensation award. With support from NEA's higher ed affiliate, the Associated COLT Staff of the University of Maine, she was awarded $60,000, plus full compensation as long as the disability lasts.

The Palm Beach Community College chapter of the United Faculty of Florida has reached a three-year agreement providing a 6 percent overall salary increase this year, with a reopener for the next two years.

The breakthrough contract came after chapter renewal and successful "interest-based" bargaining.

Entering a new round of contract negotiations, the Finger Lakes Community College Professional Association has a plan to remind the college and the community of what makes a college tick in the first place.

Contributing Excellence to the Advancement of the College and Community, a new Association publication, highlights individual achievements of Finger Lakes faculty and staff who make up the Association. It details how they have both contributed to the success of the campus and provided service to the local community.

The booklet has been distributed to the community as well as members of the county legislature.

More than a year of faculty demonstrations, hard bargaining sessions, and threats of an unfair labor practice charge have resulted in a victory for part-time instructors, members of the NEA-affiliated faculty association at Mira Costa Community College in California.

This first contract, bargained by the Association this summer, includes a 19 percent salary increase over two years, improvement in health benefits, and more administrative support.

"We think it's the best first contact we know of in the state," notes Joe Chirra, president of the association. "We hope it will encourage other part-time faculty as well."

The next step, says Chirra, will be to negotiate an equal-pay-for-equal-work clause in the next contract.

Post your local news!