March-April 2023 Advocate: Speakers at Board Meeting support a Fair Contract

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