Unemployment benefits for Adjunct Faculty

Adjunct faculty: Don’t miss out on unemployment benefits
Detailed instructions and Zoom workshops May 25 & 26

by Jessica Silver-Sharp, Skyline and Cañada College Librarian & AFT 1493 Secretary

Adjunct faculty have the right to receive unemployment benefits from the state of California during breaks between semesters when they are not employed. This includes summer! But some questions on the application are not as straightforward as they might seem and could lead your application to be rejected.

AFT members: your union will hold Unemployment Office Hours to go over potentially tricky questions on the EDD application (and how to answer them) and troubleshoot issues you encounter while completing your unemployment application. These office hours will take place on Zoom:

• Thursday, May 25 @ 4:00-5:00pm
• Friday, May 26th @ 11:00-12:00 noon

To get the most out of the AFT office hours, you should fill out as much as you can (but do not submit) of your unemployment application using the screenshot-by-screenshot guides here: https://contingentworld.com/unemployment/

During office hours, AFT reps will answer questions and give pointers on applications.

Please note that these office hours are for union members only, and we will be manually approving Zoom registrations after verifying that a registrant is in fact a union member. Please try to sign up at least a day in advance to make sure your membership can be verified and your Zoom registration approved. If you are not a member and want to join the union, you can do so here: https://leadernet.aft.org/webform/san-mateo-community-college-federation-teachers We receive the form immediately after you submit it.

Register today! LINKTR.EE/AFT1493
More information:

Adjunct faculty are eligible for unemployment insurance benefits during the period between semesters when you are unemployed or underemployed. Cervisi vs. Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (208 Cal. App. 3d 635) decided in February, 1989 by the Court of Appeals, held that a “contingent assignment is not a ‘reasonable assurance’ of continued employment” within the meaning of the Unemployment Insurance Act and does not disqualify the employee from the receipt of benefits.

Even if you have received a tentative offer of employment or even signed a contract for Fall 2023, you are entitled to apply for unemployment benefits over the summer break immediately upon completion of your last working day of the semester.

To get started ahead of time, you’ll find what you need right here:  http://aft1493.org/pt-faculty/unemployment-info/

Questions? Email Marianne Kaletzky <kaletzky@aft1493.org> or Jessica Silver-Sharp silver-sharp@aft1493.org

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Contract Negotiations

What if we have to go on strike to win a fair contract?
Lessons from Yosemite Community College District’s two-day strike

by Jessica Silver-Sharp, Skyline and Cañada College Librarian & AFT 1493 Secretary

With negotiations dragging on and a contract settlement still out of sight, AFT1493 has had to consider the possibility and ramifications of a faculty strike. While the union certainly hopes to avoid having to withhold our labor in order to win a fair contract, after working out of contract for 10 months, we wanted to learn about the experiences of other California community college faculty unions that had actually gone on strike. We reached out to Jim Sahlman, former President of the Yosemite Faculty Association of the Yosemite Community College District to ask  about his union’s successful two-day strike back in 2018 and we invited him to AFT’s April membership meeting to answer questions from members on a number of topics.

Jim Sahlman, former President of the Yosemite Faculty Association

[Note: The Advocate first interviewed Sahlman in December 2018, just after the strike and right before their union finally reached a contract agreement (read the December 2018 Advocate interview), and then reported on their settlement in the February 2019 issue.]

Questions from members centered mainly on the “how” of planning their strike. Sahlman explained to members in attendance, “We did plenty of research but in the end, we were building the ship as we were sailing it. There hadn’t been a [community college] strike in over 40 years. All the models were outdated.” He explained that their faculty had been working out of contract for three years and were extremely frustrated, and that their district had engaged in regressive bargaining (making offers, but then not offering them) around class caps and other issues crucial to students and faculty.

How did you communicate with members?

Sahlman explained that they held meetings in a central location between their two campuses and created a very popular one page e-newsletter on one topic per week called “The More You Know.” This included updates on bargaining and issues in the District that faculty needed to be aware of, for instance about extremely high administrator salaries.

How did you work with the media and other outside groups? 

Sahlman explained that they drafted articles for their local newspaper, The Modesto Bee, and also received strong support from their State Senator who wrote to their District on the union’s behalf. They also “aired the dirty laundry the district was” involved in to news, radio and TV outlets. They relied strongly on their existing connections with their local reporters.

What kind of strike did you do and how much support did you receive?

In their contract negotiations when it was time to declare impasse and vote on a strike they received 95% of faculty votes with 90% voting to strike. First they held an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike for two days in November in the rain to shut down both colleges. When the fact finder subsequently found in their favor but the District still did not settle, they threatened an impasse strike the first day students returned from the Spring break. The District then threatened to fire them if they even talked about striking again and drafted resolutions to do so. The union pushed back loudly and publicly (“Hell No!”) with their lawyer present at all meetings. “We made them out to be these pretty awful people in the process.” The District pulled the resolutions and settled the contract.

Yosemite Faculty Association members rally during their two-day strike

Did you have solidarity or help between your union and the classified folks and students?

They received quiet support from CSEA however their YFA Management group (a leadership team of deans and other management) supported them more publicly. They received a flood of support from students who wanted to go on strike with them and also spoke at board meetings. In classroom discussion, however, they did not talk about striking when students asked questions; they directed them to answers on the union’s webpage. When students asked to help, they asked students to get other students involved.

How did you communicate with faculty? 

Over the course of several weeks they created a strike council with roles: people to talk to the media, captains in charge of particular faculty groups, people in charge of food, the strike schedule, sign making, t-shirts. They collected everyone’s cell phone numbers in order to communicate quickly and privately. They didn’t describe the what/when/where of the strike until the last minute so that people couldn’t interrupt it.

What were the low points in the struggle? 

Negotiations had fallen apart in March 2018 and it looked like they were going to impasse. They learned they would have to go through mediation and fact finding before they could strike. They made sure to be clear that they were willing to talk (which is the PERB standard), going forward with negotiations while at the same time preparing for strike in late Spring 2018.

In the end, what did you win?

Their union secured a 10% raise at first, with an additional 18% promised.

AFT 1493 extends their heartfelt thanks to Mr. Sahlman for taking the time to speak with our members on April 12, 2023. We wish the Yosemite Faculty Association the best in their future contract negotiations.

Disability Rights

District refuses to agree to a timely disability accommodation process for faculty!

By Lori Slicton, Anthropology Professor, AFT 1493 Health, Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee Rep., Skyline College

   Lori Slicton

It is required under the Americans with Disabilities Act that persons seeking accommodations engage in an “Interactive Process.” This process is severely broken in our district. In a good faith effort, faculty, like myself, have made repeated requests to administrators for accommodations. However, our earnest, good faith efforts to engage in the interactive process are not reciprocated by HR in a timely manner. Months, even years, can go by without receiving the necessary help. Because of this chronic issue and the harms it causes faculty, I support the AFT’s contract proposal to improve faculty access to reasonable accommodations under the ADA.

AFT’s proposal: Simply provide a status update within 30 days

The AFT’s proposal is a humble, no cost, practical step in a positive direction: The union has proposed that the District must provide a status update within 30 days of a request for accommodation, with an appeal process available. (Although the accommodation may not yet have been determined, the union’s language only requires the District to update faculty on the status of their request.)

District’s response: Faculty can appeal to a government agency

The District has continued to reject AFT’s proposal, claiming that a faculty member who thinks their request for accommodation has not been processed in a timely manner should appeal to a government agency (like the Department of Fair Employment and Housing or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) for assistance!

I have Macular Telangiectasia Type 2, a condition which causes repeated eye infections related to eye strain, but I must push through completing my work without necessary accommodations. Professional work standards demand that I work within deadlines. If a student emails me for assistance, can I wait a month or more to respond?  No. In fact, our students have wonderful resources through the Disability Resource and Education Access Centers, but employees have no such resource. HR does not respond promptly to legitimate requests, rendering the interactive process useless.

Many excessive delays from HR have made it very difficult for me to do my work

This lack of response from HR has directly interfered with my ability to professionally serve our students and meet my contractual obligations. Since 2015 I have qualified for reasonable accommodations and have submitted all of the necessary documents. Yet the following are a few examples of excessive delays:

• SMCCD took 12 months to respond to my request for Nuventive Platform for Student Assessments and Program updates.
• SMCCD took 4 months before acting on necessary technology (during Covid 2020) so that I could learn to work remotely.
• SMCCD took approximately1 year to respond to my request for computer software, keyboard, and monitor.
• SMCCD took 11 months to respond to my request for assistive technology.
• SMCCD took 4 years to respond to my request for functionally and ergonomically arranged assistive office equipment!
• My office telephone remained out of reach and inaccessible for 2 years.

Some important documents, tasks and spaces, such as CurricUNET and Keenan SafeColleges Trainings, also remain inaccessible to me because of my condition. I recently submitted my Workload Points. There was NO box to check indicating the hours I have spent drafting emails requesting and RE-requesting accommodations.

How can anyone work under these conditions and also be expected to do Comprehensive Program Review or undergo an evaluation? The professional demands don’t stop! How is this Equitable? Socially just? Inclusive?

We need contract language that truly supports all faculty who request reasonable accommodations under the ADA so that we can carry out our mission to serve our students and our campus communities. It is unconscionable that our district refuses to provide reasonable support to faculty members with needed accommodations. We are dedicated to teaching and helping our students while navigating the difficulties of our disability. But the district is not dedicated to helping us.