After six years of struggle, the faculty union at Palomar Community College voted 151-4 on March 4 to ratify their first union contract. Four days later, the college board of trustees approved the agreement.

The Palomar Faculty Federation/AFT represents 850 part-time and 285 full-time faculty at the college. The contract maintains the health plan and workload of the full-timers and provides a raise of 3 percent. For the part-timers, the contract provides seniority rights and more professional control over their work lives, in addition to significant raises and access to office space. All in all, the contract is a watershed achievement after years of challenging circumstances.

The effort to form a union began in 1999 when part-time faculty members, frustrated by pay inequities, began organizing.  Full-time faculty joined the effort in 2001 when a president who was hostile to faculty members and to the union movement came into power.  "The full-timers had never experienced anything negative,” says PFF co-president Julie Ivey. "They didn't realize anything could be taken away from them until this president came into power."

For three years, the faculty worked tirelessly--holding rallies at board meetings, generating press coverage, and doing political action--to elect board members who were sympathetic to faculty concerns. The faculty also received significant help from a coalition of forces including the California Federation of Teachers and the San Diego Labor Council. Their efforts bore fruit when the hostile president resigned and three new faculty-friendly board of trustee members were elected.  This new administrative team broke the logjam on negotiations, which moved along quickly, and an agreement was reached late this winter. 

Mary Millet, former co-president of the federation, notes that part-timers are most pleased with their new reassignment rights. After receiving good evaluations two semesters in a row, part-time faculty are put on a preference list, which allows them to choose the number of classes they would like to teach before new part-time employee assignments are made. In addition, the number of credit hours needed for promotion for part-time faculty members is reduced from 920 hours to 450 hours. As to raises, part-time workers will get increases averaging $475 to $480 per credit hour on top of their current salaries. These raises include equity increases mandated by law.

 "I'm just glad we are moving in the right direction," Ivey said, "We'd like to increase our presence on campus and solidify the union."

The contract went into effect March 14 and runs through June 30, 2006. [Julie Berry/ Barbara McKenna]

March 17, 2005