By Tamara Perkins
Following an AFT Solidarity Social where faculty gathered in the nearby College Vista Clubhouse on April 30, 2025, union members donned their red t-shirts and made their way to the the San Mateo Community College District Board of Trustees meeting to voice deep concerns about faculty compensation, benefits, workload equity, and the district’s ongoing non-compliance with state laws.
Addressing Compensation and Retention
Faculty en route to the April 30, 2025, meeting of the Board of Trustees
A focal point of the meeting was the inadequacy of 1.5% raises recently offered to AFT in bargaining, which many faculty members argue are insufficient in an era of rising living costs. “If the district is serious about its commitment to education, to students, and to the community, they must demonstrate their commitment to the people who were closest with students, who are focused on their success, and who work tirelessly each day to inspire them,” stated Dr. Carl Lafata (Author, retired Police Officer, and Administration of Justice faculty, Skyline College). “I was placed on the highest possible pay step for newly hired faculty, but that salary is nearly $4,000 below San Mateo County’s low income threshold for a family of two.” Faculty emphasized that fair pay isn’t just about individual fairness; it directly impacts faculty retention, quality of education, and the college’s standing in the community.
AFT Co-President Rika Yonemura Fabian kicked off their comments by commending the Board for approving binding arbitration after a successful pilot. They then broke down the District’s egregious disregard for the 50% law and how this has hurt and continues to exploit faculty. “In the past ten years, over $88 million that should have come to classroom instruction, salaries, and benefits went somewhere else.”
As a crowd of faculty members held signs in solidarity behind them and around the room, they continued: “The rate of compliance of SMCCCD with the 50% law is the lowest in the California Community College system. This 1.5% raise proposal pushes us further away from the 50%.” Chancellor Moreno appeared to be listening carefully, but one Board member, John Pimental, walked out during the co-president’s statement. (For more information on this topic, see Dr. Yonemura Fabian’s Spring article in The Advocate, Why do faculty need raises?).
AFT Co-President Rika Yonemura Fabian addresses her comments to the Board, April 30, 2025
Advocating for Pay and Benefit Parity
Part-Time faculty member and AFT Co-President Tamara Perkins (Film Studies faculty, College of San Mateo & Skyline College) echoed the call for equity, reaffirming AFT’s contract proposal to establish pay/load parity and comprehensive benefits, including 100% district coverage for family health plans—full reimbursement that the district currently receives from the state. “The district says benefits are too expensive,” she pointed out, “but they are already reimbursed 100% [by the state] for their part-time healthcare costs. Denying these benefits is like throwing away free money.” A brief personal story shared by a faculty member highlighted the financial strain of limited coverage, especially for solo parents balancing teaching and family responsibilities.
Workload and Compensation Equity
Nadia Biglari (Chemistry faculty, Skyline College) emphasized the importance of recognizing lab and lecture work as equally demanding. Currently, districts like LA Community College and West Valley have achieved parity in lab/lecture workloads, while SMCCCD lags behind. She stressed that the nature of labs and lectures requires significant preparation and work, often more than other instructional formats. “Lab-heavy faculty may feel undervalued, leading to burnout, lower performance or attrition.” Professor Biglari also stressed the importance of workload parity and instructional quality connected with college and program accreditation. Her final point echoed what so many faculty shared about the importance of fair compensation.
Dr. Deborah Garfinkle (English faculty, College of San Mateo & De Anza), highlighted the unfairness of the current per-hour pay system for adjuncts. She stated that most districts in the Bay compensate adjuncts on a per-load basis, and even “less wealthy districts are paying faculty justly.”
“At De Anza College, there’s no confusion or disparity,” noted Garfinkle, “online and traditional courses are compensated by the same load figure.” She urged the District to “do the just and moral thing to end the unfair system of compensation for adjunct faculty that doesn’t reflect our community values.”
Dr. Katie Hern (Skyline College English faculty), shared an astounding statistic about her Division. “In the last three years, 58% of Skyline literature classes were taught by a single adjunct faculty who lives out of state.” Due to a novel clause in SMCCCD’s contract, the elevated workload of Composition classes is recognized at 1.25, but only if you teach four classes – the equivalent to a full load. This clause “disincentivizes full time faculty from teaching Lit classes”, Hern noted, and “part-timers never receive this workload recognition.” Getting to the crux of the issue, Dr. Hern questioned the Board. “How are we supporting our English majors, if we’re not even teaching the classes where we would be mentoring them through their programs?”
Addressing Ancillary Work and Accreditation Needs
Camille Kaslan (Chemistry faculty, Cañada College) read comments by her colleague in Biology, Distance Education Coordinator Nada Nekrep about the district’s handling of ancillary duties—such as governance and other non-instructional work—and how ambiguous definitions are impacting faculty like herself, whose essential work as Canãda College Distance Education (DE) Coordinator supports accreditation and compliance.
“These coordination positions aren’t supplemental,” Nekrep’s comments urged, “They’re essential to the functioning and integrity of our colleges.” She explained that her DE coordinator role is more important than ever, noting that over half of our classes are online, and more than half of our students take online classes. She noted our District’s recent and sudden policy shift to count non-instructional coordination work toward California’s 67% instructional work cap on adjunct faculty as different from the initial and recent terms of agreement for these types of roles. “We’re being asked to step aways from work that sustains our campuses and supports our students,” her notes emphasized.
Prof. Nekrep also shared the exceptional nature of her experience as DE Coordinator: “I’ve been able to devote myself to one campus community and catch a break from my formerly exhausting commutes of over 500 miles per week.” This ability to focus on her coordinator position has allowed Nekrep’s work to streamline distance education, and support Cañada’s recent POCR (Program Oversight and Curriculum Review) accreditation, and is playing a key role in preparation for the upcoming RSI (Regular and Substantive Interaction) accreditation for distance education. The delay in negotiating these issues threatens faculty careers and college accreditation. “In short, coordination work must be included in the definition of ancillary work that is exempt from the 67% work cap.”
Support for Immigrant and International Students and Faculty
Public speakers also joined the call for systemic change. Tim Shively, president of the Foothill-DeAnza Faculty Association and the Bay Faculty Association, shared the recent collaboration with our SMCCCD faculty on a petition calling on our Community College Districts to protect international students. Shively noted that Foothill-De Anza Chancellor Lee Lambert is in support and both speaking with Chancellor Moreno and working to unite the Region 4 CEOs. Shively called upon our Board of Trustees to “Use your positions. Use your privileges to stand up and speak out against the horrible menace that threatens the very premise of higher education.” (See President Shively’s article in this edition, “The Time is Now”). Tatiana Irwin (History faculty, College of San Mateo) echoed this message.
The petition, which was delivered to the Board that evening, has received hundreds of signatures demanding action on the international student situation, emphasizing legal support and greater transparency on student protections.
The Fight Continues
AFT leadership has requested and awaits the district’s detailed budget breakdown while continuing to fight for a fair contract before it runs out on June 30, 2025. However, the speakers’ collective message was clear: faculty deserve fair pay, equitable benefits, workload parity, and recognition for their essential work—especially when the resources are readily available. AFT and its members will continue to advocate for policies that prioritize educators and uphold the integrity of public education.