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April 21, 2003 |
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COC Part-Time Faculty United 
College of the Canyons Part-Time Faculty United Building a better profession, a better institution and better student learning. April 11, 2003
by Michael Ward, Part-Time Faculty United President The continued effort by the Santa Clarita Community College Board of Trustees and the Administration of College of the Canyons to deny part-time faculty the right to choose its own union representation is deplorable. In early January, the California State Public Employment Relations Board issued its final decision supporting our right, as part-time faculty, to choose our own part-time faculty union through a legal vote. Unfortunately, the Board of Trustees supported COC President Diane Van Hook in her decision to appeal PERB’s ruling to the California State Court of Appeals. If they did not fully support this action, at least no one has spoken out publicly to oppose it. At the very least, the Van Hook Appeal postpones the just cause of an election for part-time faculty union representation, and at worst it amounts to a simple denial of democratic free choice; either way, the appeal is morally and ethically wrong, and betrays the best principles of American democracy, and the public’s trust as well. The odds are that the Van Hook Appeal will not succeed. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why, through this appeal, President Van Hook staunchly opposes democratic free choice for the part-time faculty at College of the Canyons, or why the Board of Trustees supports her effort to block a simple part-time faculty vote, something guaranteed to US by California State law. Moreover, during this time of unprecedented budget constraints, pursuing an appeal is all the more unconscionable, considering the fact that the tens of thousands of dollars wasted on legal fees is taxpayer money that should be prudently used for the benefit of our students, keeping more classroom doors open and enhancing pay to keep qualified and dedicated faculty at COC. The Van Hook Appeal of the PERB decision is misguided and wrong, but it is not too late to withdraw it. COC Part-time Faculty United/AFT therefore requests that the SCCCD Board of Trustees withdraw this appeal in the spirit of fairness, American democracy, and the public's trust with which they are charged. The Board of Trustees can still correct their error and restore the respect that the district and the college so richly deserve by their good works. We say, don't let a single, but significant, bad decision undermine the reputation that years of good deeds have earned our college. Sincerely, Michael
K. Ward
March 15, 2003
We continue the fight for part-time faculty rights and democracy at College of the Canyons! Since this struggle began, both the district and the full-time faculty union refused to allow and election whereby we could choose our own representation. They chose instead, to force us into the district’s CTA-affiliated “company union,” an action declared illegal by the California State Public Employment Relations Board in its final decision of January 8, 2003. Nevertheless, the Santa Clarita Community College District Superintendent and COC President Diane Van Hook decided that PERB’s final ruling was not to her liking, and convinced the pusillanimous Board of Trustees to agree to the wasteful expenditure of public moneys in court actions intended to keep us from expressing our democratic rights! The SCCCD/ COC is not Superintendent-President Van Hook’s personal fiefdom; it is a public institution, and her irresponsible actions need to be examined and held in account. Not only does Van Hook’s shameful decision cheat the intent of democratic decency, but it betrays the public’s trust as well. Meanwhile, while the district is running interference for the CTA/COCFA, this entity is attempting to sell itself as the long-time friend of adjuncts – despite their unwillingness to allow us a voice in their union for more than twenty-four years! If the CTA and COCFA were truly our friends, we would already be receiving higher pay, a step and column system that rewards academic achievement and longevity of service, on-time pay that conforms to state law, paid office hours, seniority/ rehire rights, and access to medical benefits, all of which are already available to part-timers in AFT-affiliated districts next door to Santa Clarita! As
you know, we have affiliated with AFT because AFT is the most aggressive
part-time faculty advocate in the state, fighting for part-timers in the
courts, and negotiating the best contracts for part-timers throughout California.
The district knows this and would rather hand us over to their CTA company
union, one that will provide only lip-service to part-time faculty, while
rolling over tom the demands of the district. Part-time faculty deserve
much more than this! Superintendent-President Van Hook evidently
thinks otherwise. By the filing of their “Extraordinary Writ” to
the State Court of Appeals in an effort to overturn PERB’s ruling, Van
Hook and the district betray the best manifestations of American democracy
and tarnish the legacy in higher education that we all hope to build at
College of the Canyons.
Meanwhile, THANK YOU for your continued support! As adjunct faculty working for adjunct faculty and supported by AFT, the biggest community college union in the state, we intend to see that part-timers finally receive the dignity, equity, and respect at COC that we deserve. Dear Colleagues, together we will make a difference! If you have not yet done so, please sign and return a card to support our part-time faculty union today. We thank you and promise we will keep you informed of our forward progress. ONWARD! In Solidarity, Michael
K. Ward
February 16, 2003
Last month we excitedly announced the long-awaited State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) decision in favor of COC part-time faculty members. Unfortunately, the district has now decided that we must face additional extraordinary legal challenges designed to force us into the district’s CTA company union. For the last year, the district has said it will abide by PERB'S ultimate decision in this case, but now they have broken their word to part-time faculty. The district is taking taxpayer money – our money – that should be going to offer more classes for students and more pay and benefits for faculty, and are instead using it to thwart the will of the majority of part-timers who signed authorization cards asking for their own union. Part-Time Faculty United/ AFT condemns this action by the Santa Clarita Community College Board of Trustees and the COC administrators. The district historically never wanted part-time faculty to organize at all. Despite PERB’s ruling otherwise, they continue to say that they have the right to force ¾ of the entire faculty (the part-timers) into the full-time faculty minority union, the CTA/COCFA. Now they are trying to stretch this out in the courts until justice for part-time faculty is denied. This is just plain wrong, and it betrays every tenet of American democracy. The district’s appeal of the soundly argued and well-written January 8th State PERB decision is only aimed at subverting our democratic rights. COC part-timers want and deserve our own part-time faculty union NOW! It has been seventeen months since we began this effort and the state collective bargaining law states that an employer must remain “neutral” and “not show preference” to one union over another. It establishes the basic labor principle that employees can freely choose to form their own union, free of any coercion by their employer. We're ready to move on and do just that. But, now COC has blatantly broken their own public and private promises made to part-timers last year to "abide by PERB’s final decision." It is unconscionable that we cannot take the district at its own word. It is unacceptable that we are not allowed to move forward to gain legal status as exclusive bargaining agent for part-time faculty and tackle substantive positive changes for part-timers at COC. Thanks to critical legal support from the American Federation of Teachers, we have asked PERB to set an election date ASAP, so we can vote for our own union and move toward negotiating a legal and binding contract with COC that protects part-timer rights. As you know, even before we are certified by PERB as exclusive bargaining agent for part-timers, we have already made real strides in protecting part-time faculty rights at COC. This is only the start of what we can accomplish once we get our union! Meanwhile, while the district is running interference for it, the CTA/COCFA is attempting to sell itself as the long-time friend of adjuncts – despite their unwillingness to allow us a voice in their union for more than twenty-four years! If the CTA and COCFA were truly our friends, we would already be receiving higher pay, a step and column system that rewards academic achievement and longevity of service, on-time pay that conforms to state law, paid office hours, seniority/ rehire rights, and access to medical benefits, all of which are already available to part-timers in AFT-affiliated districts next door to Santa Clarita! As you know, we have affiliated with AFT because AFT is the most aggressive part-time faculty advocate in the state, fighting for part-timers in the courts, and negotiating the best contracts for part-timers throughout California. The district knows this and would rather hand us over to their CTA company union, one that will provide only lip-service to part-time faculty, while rolling over tom the demands of the district. Part-time faculty deserve much more than this! As adjunct faculty working for adjunct faculty and supported by AFT, the biggest community college union in the state, we intend to see that part-timers finally receive the dignity, equity, and respect at COC that we deserve. Colleagues, together we will make a difference! This
lengthy and costly struggle to keep from being subsumed by a union not
of our own choosing with the complicity of the district should never have
happened. The district is hoping that part-timers will just give
up and go away. The CTA/ COCFA is hoping that part-timers will forget
what they did to us and never did for us. But we know we have the
law on our side, and we will win this battle to freely exercise our rights.
In Solidarity, Michael
K. Ward
January 12, 2003
On behalf of COC Part-Time Faculty United/ AFT, Happy New Year! With the recent news Public Employment Relations Board decision in our favor, we can indeed look forward to a year in which we may choose our own adjunct union representation for the first time in COC history. Many of our colleagues have carried this grass-roots effort to this victorious stage, in spite of many obstacles along the way. We did this out of our desire for self-determination as adjunct faculty working for adjunct faculty; together, we will make a difference! Since this struggle began more than one year ago, we faced very tough odds that included administrative retaliation against the leadership of COC Part-Time Faculty United. Nevertheless we remained stalwart and steadfast in our resolve to do what was right in principle, and honorable on behalf of our part-time faculty colleagues; protecting the freedom to choose our own representation at COC! From the beginning,, the real issues at COC have had to do with freedom of choice, something that remains at the heart of the American values that we cherish. Despite the differences that we have held between the administration and the full-time faculty union (COCFA/ CTA), we remain ever more positive in our expectation for the successful protection of those rights. Beyond that, we look forward to our forthcoming election, avowing that, with separate part-time union representation, we may work as full-timers and part-timers together for the goals that we share in common as faculty members at COC. These goals include building a better work environment and a better campus, especially at this time of budget constraints and expenditure reductions. Such objectives remain among our deepest hopes and desires at COC. There is, however, one obstacle that needs to be overcome before our expectations might be realized. Specifically, we anticipate and must realize a clear and unobstructed path to our long-sought elections. While we celebrate the spectacular win that the final PERB decision gives us, it is important that no costly appeals of this soundly written decision are made. To this end, we praise the assurances made last year by the COC administration and the California Teachers’ Association (CTA is the parent organization of COCFA) of their intent to abide by the recent decision of the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB). Likewise, the Santa Clarita Community College District (SCCCD) Board of Trustees, in an open meeting in January 2002, also agreed to abide by PERB’s final ruling. Nevertheless, concern that such promises might not be kept is real; on Friday, January 10, 2003 CTA representative Ray Barney hotly asserted that CTA will “drag [the litigation] out for ten years.” Such blatant maliciousness betrays the spirit of honesty and fair play that we expect of American democracy. It is obvious that people like Barney will stop at nothing when it comes to finding ways to seize what they could not earn by a legal vote of the part-timers: the control of adjunct faculty now and in the future. If they get their way, we will lose our freedom to choose, and we will lose our voice in matters that concern us at COC. We contend that Ray Barney does not represent the intent or professionalism of the CTA; they must be better than that. The adjunct faculty at COC have worked hard for self-representation, and while we firmly believe this drawn out, costly, and difficult fight for our democratic rights could have and should have been avoided, we are nonetheless pleased that the SCCCD and the CTA/COCFA have agreed to support this ruling in our favor by the California State Public Employees Relations Board. In the meantime, we thank both the part-time and full-time faculty of College of the Canyons for your overwhelming support, something that we deeply value as we strive to attain part-timer rights to free choice at College of the Canyons. In Solidarity, Michael
K. Ward
December 11, 2002
As the semester and the year wind down, I and COC Part-Time Faculty United/ AFT wish to thank everyone for their support throughout this past year and send our thoughts and hopes that everyone all the best for a healthy and prosperous New Year. 2002 was indeed a very active and busy one in which we fought and won many difficult battles for part-time faculty rights at College of the Canyons; with the steadfast support of our colleagues we have made significant progress! Our case has received the attention and support of adjunct faculty organizations throughout the state, as well as the notice of many people across the nation and outside the U.S. Thank you for your continued support for this noble effort! We WILL WIN in 2003! In Solidarity, Michael
K. Ward
November 17, 2002
By now most of us are aware of our continued adjunct faculty struggle to gain union representation. This effort is nearing its first anniversary, and though we have experienced a series of ups and downs along the way, we remain very positive, now more than ever, with regard to the prospects of getting an election! Our organizing project has brought us together like never before. The support and respect that we hold for each other as adjunct faculty, our solidarity of purpose, doing good work in the face of difficulties that included class cuts and administrative opposition, have together made us into a strong and unified force for good at COC. In the face of adversity we have been brought us together as compatriots and friends. Now we wait for a final determination in our case that rests in the hands of our able lawyers and the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), but we will not rest. The gears of justice have turned in our favor by the recent ruling of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, granting an extension of the injunction that keeps COC’s “company union,” the CTA-affiliated COC Faculty Association, from seizing control of our bargaining rights with the Santa Clarita Community College District. Meanwhile PERB is acting fast on two Unfair Labor Practice complaints filed on our behalf by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The first of these ULP charges seeks to stop the COCFA and the COC administration from assuming control of our bargaining rights, and thereby allowing us to choose our representation by fair election. The second and most recent ULP charge is connected to the attempt by the COC administration to break our part-time faculty union drive by the widespread cancellation of spring 2003 courses. Our complaint before PERB seeks to prevent such actions in the future. To that end, we remain grateful for your continued support and assistance to COC Part-Time Faculty United/ AFT. The scores of recent communications that we have received from our fellow adjunct faculty members reveal a blatant disregard for part-timers and their needs by the COC administration and COCFA. The class cancellations this fall and the massive course cuts initially planned for the spring 2003 semester harmed many dedicated part-time faculty members and frustrated the efforts by many of our students to meet their educational needs. A report on our findings related to these events will soon be made public. It is worth noting that since the filing of this second ULP charge, the district has restored most, but not all, of the spring 2003 cancellations. And though there were few immediate remedies to this situation as it originally unfolded, the consequence of AFT going to bat for us brought positive results; together we will effect positive changes for adjuncts at COC. Please continue to let us know how these cuts have affected you and the extent to which these classes have been restored. As always, rest assured that all contacts with COC Part-Time Faculty United/ AFT are strictly confidential! In the meantime, we look forward to getting to know each other better and to building our adjunct faculty union at College of the Canyons! In Solidarity, Michael
K. Ward
October 2, 2002
Recently, we narrowly dodged a bullet intended to kill part-time faculty choice at College of the Canyons. As you know, our original Unfair Labor Practice complaint filed with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) received an unfavorable recommendation by an Administrative Law Judge. The ALJ’s “proposed decision” can become final only if it is not challenged, and because, according to AFT attorneys, it was poorly supported by gross misinterpretations of case law, this proposed decision must be challenged and overturned as a matter of principle. Therefore, we intend to vigorously challenge this proposed decision through the appeals process. This fight is not an easy one. In the face of tough opposition, know that we will not give up our fight for adjunct faculty rights, and the freedom to choose our own representation at COC! Our most recent problem at COC had to do with the ending of the injunction preventing the COC administration and CTA from negotiating part-time faculty issues, as it was set to expire on Monday, September 23, 2002. A hearing scheduled for September 19, for the purpose of extending that injunction (pending our appeal of the ALJ's proposed decision) was postponed until October 1. In other words, because of a glitch in the court schedule, there was to be a one-week period before a new hearing could take place to extend the injunction. In light of this situation, Robert Thompson, the chief counsel for PERB, sought written assurance from the COC administration and the CTA union to honor the spirit of the injunction and not rush to seize control of adjunct faculty decision-making during the short inter-injunction period. Unfortunately, both the administration and the CTA responded with written refusals, sending a clear indication of their intent to hijack us and become our negotiators against our will. As a result of these developments, the future of COC part-time faculty choice and self-determination was in immediate and grave danger. What is extraordinary about this recent episode of our case at COC, is that because of the potential for harm done to the part-time faculty as a result of this situation, a PERB attorney literally waited outside of Judge Yaffee's courtroom on Tuesday, September 24, at the L. A. County Superior Court, in order to get an emergency extension of that injunction. An emergency extension was granted us, pending our hearing in mid-October to extend the original injunction. Though these details and the story of our struggle to date are obviously convoluted, the single issue that prevails, and which is at the heart of the entire matter, is that of choice. All we have wanted from the beginning of this fight (about one year ago) was the right to make a free choice for our own representation! COC’s pro-CTA administration and the CTA itself do not like that idea, and continue to do everything in their power to block us from having our ability to choose by an election, which union will represent us. Such actions remain indefensible. In an effort to force their influence, the CTA and the administration recently colluded to rid the college of the 3/5 of the part-time faculty that signed pro-AFT cards. While there is no way for the administration to know who signed these cards, this action sought to eliminate most of our numbers by taking classes away from us in the name of state budget cuts. Meanwhile the administration encouraged increases in full-time overload and continues to seek new part-time faculty (an examination of the CCC Job Bank will reveal that COC is seeking applicants for "all disciplines"). Such union-busting activities are shameful, and CTA should be taking the lead as the full-timers' union to halt such activities; by their refusal to act, they are complicit in these malicious deeds. We are outraged at this latest round of unscrupulous and opportunistic actions of the COC administration in concert with the CTA to hijack the part-time faculty. It is obvious that these two entities will stop at nothing when it comes to finding ways to seize what they could not earn by a legal vote of the part-timers: the control of adjunct faculty decision-making now and in the future. If they get their way, we will lose our freedom to choose, and we will lose our voice in matters that concern us at COC. Moreover, the ramifications of this happening will direly impact adjunct faculty rights to self-determination statewide. The real issues at COC have to do with freedom of choice, something that remains at the heart of the American values that we cherish, and something the CTA and the COC administration are evidently willing to obstruct. We thank you for the many calls, letters, and emails of help; we deeply value your continued support as we strive to attain part-timer rights to free choice at College of the Canyons. In Solidarity, Michael
K. Ward
September 6, 2002 Dear Fellow Part-timers at College of the Canyons, As
President of COC Part-Time Faculty United/ AFT, I would like to welcome
you to the growing ranks of adjunct faculty at COC. While part-time
faculty share the same credentials, knowledge, and abilities as our full-time
colleagues, we often do not share the same challenges and issues that confront
us over the course of each semester. Adjunct faculty members themselves
best understand such concerns. With that in mind, I encourage you
to take the time and investigate the issues that we are faced with this
semester as we approach an election that will allow us to choose adjunct
union representation for the first time in COC history. Many of our
colleagues have carried this grass-roots effort to its present stage, in
spite of many obstacles along the way. During this semester you will
hear many arguments and perspectives related to the question of adjunct
union representation at COC. I invite you to examine these viewpoints;
learn all sides of this issue and make an educated choice this fall for
the American Federation of Teachers/ AFT. COC Part-Time Faculty United
is committed to professional excellence and to creating a better academic
work environment, both for faculty, and for the students we serve.
Adjunct faculty working for adjunct faculty; together, we can make a difference!
In Unity and Solidarity, Michael
K. Ward
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