May 2022 Advocate: “Week of Action” review

Contract campaign

“Week of Action” launched campaign for new faculty contract

AFT 1493 kicked off the beginning of contract negotiations for new three-year faculty contract with the district by organizing multiple actions during our “Week of Action” from April 18 through 22.

  • On Monday and Tuesday, April 18 and 19, AFT 1493 members staffed and stopped by our tables to talk to colleagues and students about the contract campaign we’re kicking off.

 
AFT 1493 tablers included Rika Yonemura-Fabian at Skyline (left photo) and Monica Malamud and Michael Hoffman at Cañada (right photo)

  • On Wednesday, April 20, we organized a Sunshine Rally to present our demands for this contract, explain why they matter to all faculty in the district, and to encourage our members to get prepared to take action to win them.

Some of the over 50 attendees at the Sunshine Rally on Zoom

  • On Thursday, April 21, we held a Flex Day Know Your Contract session to enable faculty to advocate more effectively for your rights and your colleagues’ rights. Full-time faculty offered valuable feedback and questions about the Full-Time Workload Point System (some answered in this FAQ), and adjunct faculty learned more about protections the contract currently offers part-timers and helped us think through how they could be improved.
  • Many faculty showed our AFT strength by wearing union t-shirts and using Union Strong Zoom backgrounds at Flex Day. (We encourage you to keep the momentum going by continuing to use the backgrounds and wear the shirts!)
  • Close to 200 faculty members have completed paper or digital Count On Me cards to let us know which priorities matter most to you and what actions you’re ready to take to win them. If you haven’t completed a Count On Me card yet, please do it today by visiting this link: https://bit.ly/AFTcountonme.  It takes 5 minutes and gives us valuable information to plan our contract campaign to win a contract we all deserve!

Together we can win a great contract!