Part-Timer
Community College Council of the California Federation of Teachers American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
Spring 2009 Volume 20, Number 2
P R O M O T I N G P A R T- T I M E F A C U LT Y R I G H T S
Trying to gauge impact of fiscal crisis
Adjunct faculty losing work as class sections cut The talk these days on community college campuses revolves around one major issue — jobs and the state budget crisis. In many districts, the
slashing of course sections in the spring semester has been draconian —100 to 150 sections at some colleges. Many are reporting cuts for summer and fall as well. With little job security, adjunct faculty are most seriously impacted. Allan Hancock College was particularly hard hit when the administration eliminated winter intersession altogether and cut 230 FTEs from the spring credit schedule. “The burden has fallen almost entirely on part-time instructors although some full-timers have lost overload assignments,” said Mark James Miller, president of its Part-Time Faculty Association. In addition, the administration
announced that it intended to shorten all non-credit courses in the spring semester by
“We are contingent workers with no contingency. The cuts may be small at some colleges, but if you’re trying to make a living, even small cuts can be devastating.“ three weeks. “We demanded that they bargain with us over this unilateral change,” said Miller. “Since the semester had already started, we held that it
About applying for unemployment benefits If you do not have a summer teaching assignment or another job, you are entitled to unemployment benefits during the summer break. If you are teaching summer school, you may qualify for unemployment benefits in the periods before or after summer session so long as you do not have reasonable assurance of further employment during a subsequent term. This benefit is the result of a 1989 CFT legal challenge that led to the landmark decision of Cervisi v. California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, which held that temporary faculty (i.e., part-time)
are eligible for unemployment benefits between terms if they do not have reasonable assurance of reemployment. A future assignment that is contingent upon enrollment, funding, or bumping by a full-time faculty member does not provide reasonable assurance of reemployment. If you still have work of some kind between terms, you may be eligible for partial unemployment if your salary is less than what you would receive from unemployment. If you receive payments from the EDD, be sure to report any and all other earnings. You are required to look for work, but not outside your field of exper-
tise or farther than 25 miles from your home. Save all documents related to your claim, such as letters from your district, and records of contacts made with potential employers. >To apply for unemployment, go to www.edd.ca.gov. If EDD denies your claim, contact your AFT local union to file a timely appeal. >If you get health benefits from the distict and you lose your assignment, you are now entitled to nine months continued coverage under President Obama’s stimulus package, and the district must pay 65 percent of that amount. Previously, you had to pay the premiums yourself.
Adjuncts from unions around the state talked about jobs at CFT Convention.
was an unfair labor practice. The administration decided to rescind that particular action.” At a workshop at the CFT Convention, activists from around the state discussed parttime faculty layoffs and shared stories about the loss of income and health benefits. “It’s frustrating that we have no data on the real impact of the budget crisis on adjunct faculty,” said John Govsky, Cabrillo College Federation, who facilitated the session. While concrete data is hard to come by, Part-Timer has heard from adjuncts around the state. One adjunct, who did not want to be identified said, “I have been very affected by the budget problems. I teach at three colleges, all between 30-50 miles from my home, and two of them have cut my assigned courses in half. My husband and I bought our first home this summer, and we are in the process of finalizing an See Adjunct Jobs back page