Contract Campaign

15 speakers present strong case to Board of Trustees for Part-time Parity and Part-Time Faculty Healthcare

The SMCCCD Board of Trustees heard public comments from 15 different speakers on Wednesday (3/22), all of whom urged the Board to provide the leadership to district negotiators to agree to a fair contract, including affordable healthcare for all faculty and equitable pay for adjunct faculty. The speakers included union leaders representing faculty in six different districts that have already agreed to provide part-time faculty healthcare funded by the state.

Click the image to watch all of the speakers present their powerful comments below:

Below is a brief description oi each speaker. Click on any speaker’s name to view that individual speaker’s comments:

• Mary Torres-Volken, Skyline College adjunct librarian, spoke on the need for significant pay raises to reach pay parity for adjunct instructors (Mary provided the Trustees with copies of a chart that shows how SMCCCD part-time faculty’s pay-per-class is below four neighboring community college districts)
• Kate Disney, President, West Valley-Mission Federation of Teachers, spoke on equitable healthcare insurance for part-time instructors, which has already been agreed to by the West Valley-Mission Community College District
• Laurie Dotson, Child Studies Instructor, West Valley College, spoke on equitable healthcare insurance for part-time instructors, which has already been agreed to by the West Valley-Mission Community College District
• Joan Dentler, Representative for State Senator Josh Becker, read a letter from Sen. Becker in support of equitable healthcare insurance for part-time instructors, the cost of which will be fully reimbursed by the state
• Monica Malamud, President of AFT 1493, spoke on the need for the Trustees to direct the district negotiators to rapidly agree to a fair contract
• Karen Chan, Chief Negotiator, West Valley-Mission Federation of Teachers, urged the Trustees to agree to equitable healthcare insurance for part-time instructors, which has already been agreed to by the West Valley-Mission Community College District
• Jennifer Shanoski, President, Peralta Federation of Teachers, urged the Trustees to agree to equitable healthcare insurance for part-time instructors, which has already been agreed to by the Peralta Community College District
• Joaquin Rivera, Chief Negotiator, San Mateo College Fed. of Teachers, AFT 1493, urged the Trustees to direct the district negotiators to quickly agree to a fair contract
• Margaret Niven, adjunct Art Instructor, West Valley College, spoke about the importance of health insurance to adjunct faculty and how appreciative she is that faculty in her district will now be receiving equitable coverage
• Geoffrey Johnson, of the Southwestern College Education Association, spoke about the equitable healthcare insurance that has been agreed to by his college district
• Lacy Barnes, Senior Vice President, California Federation of Teachers, spoke about the small steps the Board needs to take to provide equitable healthcare to part-time faculty
• Belinda Lum, Chief Negotiator for the Los Rios Federation of Teachers, explained that the Los Rios Community College District had agreed to provide equitable healthcare to their part-time faculty
• Sue Broxholm, adjunct Math instructor, Skyline College & College of Alameda, explained that she would be receiving equitable healthcare from her job in the Peralta District and urged the San Mateo District do the same
• Jim Mahler, President of the CFT Community College Council and the AFT Guild in San Diego County, explained that two districts at which his union represents faculty–San Diego Community College District and Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District–had both agreed to provide equitable healthcare insurance to their adjunct faculty
• Lori Slicton, Skyline College Anthropology Professor, called on the Trustees to insure that the district agree to contract language to provide reasonable accommodations under the ADA

State federation

AFT 1493 members attend California Federation of Teachers Convention in SF

AFT 1493 members who attended the CFT Convention included, l. to r., Monica Malamud, David Lau, Teeka James, Katharine Harer, Marianne Kaletzky and Annika Mellies (CFT Project Organizer)

A dynamic contingent of AFT 1493 members attended the biennial Convention of the California Federation of Teachers Friday, March 17 through Sunday, March 19 at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco’s Union Square and participated in numerous workshops, general sessions and at a meeting of CFT’s Community College Council. Speakers at general sessions included Jane Elliott, anti-racist educator and author of “Blue Eye/Brown Eye,” California Labor Federation Executive-Secretary Lorena Gonzalez and national American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. Dozens of workshops were held, including “Organizing Around Class Size in California Community Colleges” at which AFT 1493 Executive Secretary Marianne Kaletzky spoke about the experiences of our district faculty’s work on this issue and the workshop titled “Criticizing the Completion Agenda: On Robin G. Isserle’s Book The Cost of Completion” which was co-led by AFT 1493 CSM Chapter Chair David Lau.

Marianne Kaletzky spoke at the CFT Convention workshop on “Organizing Around Class Size in Calif. Community Colleges”

David Lau led a discussion at the CFT Convention workshop, “Criticizing the Completion Agenda: On Robin Isserle’s Book The Cost of Completion“

Attendees at the CFT Convention workshop on “Organizing Around Class Size in Calif. Community Colleges”

AFT 1493 members, l. to r., Eric Brenner, Evan Kaiser, Monica Malamud, Teeka James, Katharine Harer, David Lau and Marianne Kaletzky at the CFT Convention

AFT 1493’ers and family members gathered for dinner during the CFT Convention

Contract campaign

Sign the petition to Interim Chancellor Moreno and the Board of Trustees to approve a fair contract for faculty!

Our district has failed to create an environment where faculty are adequately supported to guide students through their educational journey. We have been without a contract for almost 9 months now. Please sign AFT 1493’s petition to “Do the Right Thing for Students! Approve a Fair Contract For Faculty.”

The petition asks the District leadership to negotiate in good faith to provide:

• an increase in wages that allows faculty to live in the area
• affordable healthcare for all faculty
• equitable pay for adjunct faculty

We will be hand-delivering the petition to Dr. Moreno in her first weeks as Chancellor and to the Trustees at a Board meeting. We are demanding they show leadership by settling a fair faculty contract as soon as possible.

Please sign the petition at this link:

bit.ly/1493faircontract

and then ask at least three more colleagues and/or supporters to sign it as well.

Thank you for your support!

Cost of living

While our county has the highest property values in the US, our district’s salaries and benefits are behind neighboring districts

We all know that we work in one of the most expensive areas in the country and we also know that our district’s revenues are extremely high because, as a “Basic Aid” district, they are primarily based on receiving a share of the county’s property tax income. Recent figures from the National Association of Realtors have confirmed our experience of our extremely high cost of living: San Mateo County’s median home values are the highest of any county in the country! In the latest county-by-county data for median home values from the 3rd quarter of 2022, the top four most expensive counties in the US include San Mateo County at the top, followed by three of our neighboring counties:

• San Mateo County, CA: $1,575,280
• Marin County, CA: $1,467,100
• Santa Clara County, CA: $1,459,600
• San Francisco County, CA: $1,458,510

Considering the exceedingly high cost of living that makes it difficult for our faculty to afford to live in the area and the district’s correspondingly high revenues that provide it with a very healthy budget, it is only reasonable to expect that our district’s salaries and benefits should be at the top compared to other districts around the state and, more specifically, in the Bay Area.

SMCCCD Part-time faculty salaries and benefits not keeping up with neighboring districts

If we look at comparisons with our neighboring districts, however, this is mostly not the case—especially when we compare our adjunct faculty’s pay and benefits to other Bay Area Basic Aid districts. The actual pay-per-class compensation still lags significantly behind the Marin and Mission/West Valley districts and is also behind the San Jose/Evergreen district when comparing all but the highest steps.  SMCCCD part-time faculty’s pay-per-class, therefore, continues to be the lowest of the four Bay Area “Basic Aid”/”Community-supported” community college districts. (See the pay comparison chart below.) All of the other districts pay-per-class for adjunct faculty is a set percentage of full-time faculty’s pay-per-class. This is often referred to as a “parity’ percentage—and ranges from 95% at Marin to 73% at San Jose/Evergreen.  Adjunct faculty in our district are not paid at a set percentage of full-time faculty; the parity percentage varies depending on the step and column on the salary schedule, generally in the low to mid 70% range. SMCCCD has committed to a parity goal of 85%, but so far they have not been willing set a date by which they will reach that 85% goal.

Comparing health benefits for part-time faculty, SMCCCD is also behind other districts. While the Mission-West Valley District (as well as 9 other districts around the state) has already agreed to provide part-time faculty working at least a 40% load the same healthcare coverage enjoyed by full-timers, SMCCCD has been unwilling to agree to the same deal for our adjunct faculty, even though these benefits would be fully funded by the state! (A major campaign by the California Federation of Teachers last year succeeded in winning an historic expansion of state funding for part-time community college faculty healthcare that fully funds districts that provide the required benefits. See the CFT’s FAQ on Part-Time Faculty Healthcare in the Community Colleges.)

Comparison of 2022-23 Adjunct Instructional Faculty Compensation for SMCCCD and Neighboring Districts
Based on teaching one 3-unit class

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Click on the name of each district at the top of the chart above to view the salary schedules for that district.
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SMCCCD: Calculation to translate hourly rate to 3-unit load:
…Hourly Rate x Hours/Week (3) x Weeks/Semester (17.5) + Office Hour Rate x Weeks/Semester (17.5)
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* 2022-23 rates (Marin, Mission/WV, SJ/Evergreen, Foothill); * 2021-22 rates (SMCCCD, CCSF);
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“Basic Aid”/”Community-supported” districts: SMCCCD, Marin, Mission/WV, SJ/Evergreen