Workload Equity Update

by Anne Stafford, AFT Workload Committee rep.

AFT and Senate representatives from the District Workload Committee met on Flex day (March 6) to work on drafting a concrete proposal defining a “reasonable workload” and establishing a process for compensating full-time faculty who perform work in excess of what is determined to be reasonable. We made progress, but still have work to do. The challenge, of course, is to find the sweet spot: a definition of “reasonable” that is truly reasonable and that is not overly prescriptive in identifying the broad range of faculty duties and responsibilities. The same group will meet again later this month to wrap up an initial draft, one that will need some additional input from faculty before being put forward in contract negotiations.

Doniella Maher and Anne Stafford, AFT Workload Committee reps., attended the March 7 contract negotiations session to provide a brief summary of, and answer questions about, the Committee’s work and the 2018 survey results. District negotiators had reviewed the Committee report but had not yet had the opportunity to read faculty’s written responses to the open-ended survey questions, responses that highlight the stress, exhaustion, and disillusionment experienced by so many faculty on a near daily basis.

We are inching closer to a proposal our AFT negotiators can take forward in our struggle for workload equity. Stay tuned.

View the final Workload Committee Report and Survey Results.