Adjunct faculty health benefits

Adjunct faculty: Please take the CFT Part-Time Healthcare Survey to help improve health coverage for community college adjunct faculty around the state

by Marianne Kaletzky, AFT 1493 Executive Secretary

Like so many gig economy jobs, adjunct faculty positions rarely provide adequate benefits—including adequate healthcare. A recent survey of adjunct faculty in higher education nationwide found that fewer than half of adjuncts have access to employer-provided health insurance. The survey, which was conducted by national AFT, also found that 45 percent of adjuncts have put off getting needed healthcare, including mental health services, and 64 percent have forgone dental care. For adjuncts in California community colleges, health benefits vary widely by district, from districts that offer only a $75 per semester reimbursement to ones that offer a Kaiser plan, fully funded by the employer, plus dental and vision benefits for any adjunct working at least 50% time. In our own district, adjuncts who work at least 40% time are eligible to receive up to $3305 per semester to reimburse health insurance premiums. (See here for more on how to receive the reimbursement.)

CFT gets governor to allocate $200 million to healthcare for community college adjuncts

Our statewide union, the CFT, is working to improve adjunct healthcare across the state. Through our grassroots organizing efforts, we got Governor Newsom to allocate $200 million in his budget proposal to go towards healthcare for community college adjuncts—400 times the amount allocated in the past! The next steps are, first, to make sure that money stays in the budget, and second, to create a structure that gives adjuncts the healthcare they need.

Take the survey

To understand how to create the structure that works for the most adjuncts, we need to hear from you: if you’re an adjunct, what have been your experiences accessing healthcare over the past few years? AFT 1493 will get the survey results (from the CFT) for all adjunct faculty in our local who take the survey. This will provide critical data that can help us directly understand what kind of healthcare coverage our district part-time faculty need, and will strengthen our advocacy efforts and give us very useful information for negotiations. Please help us help you by taking this confidential and anonymous 15-minute survey: https://www.cft.org/pt-survey.

Join the campaign

Are you interested in joining the statewide campaign for adjunct healthcare? We need more members, both part-timers and full-timers, to help us win quality care for all. No organizing or policy experience required! If you’d like to join or want to learn more, please reach out to Marianne at kaletzky@aft1493.org. You can also register to attend the CFT Part-Time Faculty Conference May 1-2 in Sacramento.