. . . and the Struggle for Economic and Worker Justice for ALL Faculty
By Tamara Perkins
A movement is growing throughout California community colleges as faculty members rally around the vision of One Faculty — a unified, equitable system that benefits all faculty. Born out of a resolution passed by the California Federation of Teachers State Council in 2022, and driven by the resulting statewide One Faculty Task Force, this movement aims to overhaul long standing structural inequities that have plagued faculty and eroded unity and morale for decades.
The core idea is simple yet transformative: all faculty—full-time and part-time—should experience the same employment and hiring processes, as well as compensation schedules and benefits.
“The One Faculty Task Force is a movement to make the kind of changes that frankly we’ve needed for decades,” stated One Faculty Task Force Tri-Chair Linda Sneed. They have laid out the blueprint in CFT’s Vision of a One Faculty future.
These ideas aren’t new; many were suggested in a 2014 anthology on the unified model that calls for an end to the “two-tier system” in higher education. We seem to be in a synergistic moment, not just among part-time faculty, with a rising interest and belief in doing right by students and faculty to strengthen higher education in America.
In California, versions of several of the “one tier” ideas have been discussed or implemented piecemeal—such as AB-1690, signed into law by Jerry Brown in 2016, which provided employment protections for part-time faculty including rehire rights, and the recent legislation AB-190, which funds health insurance for part-time faculty. “We still have these structural inequities that harm everyone in the ecosystem,” Sneed observed. The One Faculty movement is gaining momentum because it addresses deep-rooted inequalities.
CFT’s One Faculty Task Force has achieved consensus in its vision and developed working groups to make progress on Phase 1 of its strategic plan. CFT has also sponsored AB-1028, a bill authored by Assembly Higher Education Committee Chair Mike Fong, to afford part-time faculty due process rights and greater job security. CFT is committing staff and other resources to further all aspects of the strategic plan.
All faculty could benefit!
A fairer, more just system will take nothing from full-time faculty but the unreasonable workload so many experience, as more faculty engaging in governance and committee work, colleagues’ performance review processes, program review, accreditation, and other essential faculty functions will relieve some of the burdens shouldered disproportionately by full-time faculty. The Task Force hopes full-time faculty will see this as a social justice issue, recognizing that an injury to one portion of the faculty body is an injury to all. Our colleges and districts will be stronger with a more unified faculty who share interests and job responsibilities.
The One Faculty Movement envisions a future where faculty are valued equally, regardless of how many classes they teach or hours they work to serve students. At its heart, the One Faculty movement is a call for collective action toward fairness, equity, and unity among faculty. Frequently asked questions are answered here.