Presentation: Justification for WA SB5844

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Justification for SB 5844

Authorizing Part-time Faculty to form their own unions

Jack Longmate ([email protected])Adjunct English FacultyOlympic College


Washington’s community and technical colleges employ about 3,500 full-time faculty and about 8,000 part-time or adjunct faculty (SBCTC, 2011-2012 Academic Year Report, p. 63).

http://www.sbctc.edu/college/studentsvcs/5staff_1112.pdf, pp. 58, 63.


Two-tiered Faculty Workforce

http://www.sbctc.edu/college/studentsvcs/5staff_1112.pdf




Part-time faculty teach 47 percent of all courses statewide (SBCTC, 2011-2012 Academic Year Report, p. 58). As such, part-time faculty are integral to the community and technical college system.








After 40 years of collective bargaining with full-time and part-time faculty in the same unions, it is clear that collective bargaining has failed part-time faculty.







After 40 years of collective bargaining with full-time and part-time faculty in the same unions, it is clear that collective bargaining has failed part-time faculty. Consider two primary workplace conditions: Job Security and Compensation.



Collective Bargaining: Job security


Full-time tenured faculty are assured of their workload—even if enrollment in their classes does not fill, they have bumping rights to displace part-time faculty. Their tenured status protects them from layoffs; only under declaration of a financial emergency are tenured faculty jobs endangered.




Part-time faculty, by contrast, are not assured of their jobs beyond the current term, are often not provided a contract until classes are well underway, and are typically hired on a term-by-term basis. While some colleges have a hiring preference for some part-time faculty (e.g, “Associate faculty,” “Priority Hiring List,” “Part-time File,” etc.), such status is not job security nor reasonable assurance of reemployment as testified by the fact that these part-time/adjunct faculty are eligible for unemployment between terms. Part-time/adjunct faculty are considered temporary, probationary employees even after decades of service.




Part-time faculty, by contrast, are not assured of their jobs beyond the current term, are often not provided a contract until classes are well underway, and are typically hired on a term-by-term basis. While some colleges have a hiring preference for some part-time faculty (e.g, “Associate faculty,” “Priority Hiring List,” “Part-time File,” etc.), such status is not job security nor reasonable assurance of reemployment as testified by the fact that these part-time/adjunct faculty are eligible for unemployment between terms. Part-time/adjunct faculty are considered temporary, probationary employees even after decades of service, and after forty years of collective bargaining.




Part-time faculty, by contrast, are not assured of their jobs beyond the current term, are often not provided a contract until classes are well underway, and are typically hired on a term-by-term basis. While some colleges have a hiring preference for some part-time faculty (e.g, “Associate faculty,” “Priority Hiring List,” “Part-time File,” etc.), such status is not job security nor reasonable assurance of reemployment as testified by the fact that these part-time/adjunct faculty are eligible for unemployment between terms. Part-time/adjunct faculty are considered temporary, probationary employees even after decades of service, and after forty years of collective bargaining.


It is clear that with such differences in job security after 40 years, collective bargaining has not served part-time faculty.


Collective Bargaining: Compensation



Full-time faculty are placed on a salary schedule with the potential for advancement as they gain experience and increase their professional development. While Washington’s full-time faculty salaries are low compared to those of comparable states, Washington full-time faculty have the ability to teach overtime—called overloads or moonlighting—as a way of earning extra income.




Part-time faculty: Even though the grades and credits part-time faculty award have the same value as those of full-time faculty, part-time faculty pay is discounted (62%). The rational offered for this lesser pay rate is that full-time faculty teach, perform service, and research while part-time faculty “just teach,” though many part-time faculty perform the full range of teaching without compensation. Most colleges have not bargained a part-time faculty salary schedule with incremental pay steps, meaning that part-timers in their first or tenth years receive the same compensation. Part-time earnings are also often limited by a workload cap (e.g., no more than 85% of full-time).




Part-time faculty: Even though the grades and credits part-time faculty award have the same value as those of full-time faculty, part-time faculty pay is discounted (62%). The rational offered for this lesser pay rate is that full-time faculty teach, perform service, and research while part-time faculty “just teach,” though many part-time faculty perform the full range of teaching without compensation. Most colleges have not bargained a part-time faculty salary schedule with incremental pay steps, meaning that part-timers in their first or tenth years receive the same compensation. Part-time earnings are also often limited by a workload cap (e.g., no more than 85% of full-time).

It is clear that with such differences in compensation after 40 years, collective bargaining has not served part-time faculty.



Consider the salary schedule that has been bargained by Olympic College and the Olympic College Association for Higher Education.

Lowest Olympic College full-time faculty annual salary, $37,261.

http://www.olympic.edu/NR/rdonlyres/2F796ECC-49D8-4D56-936B-72BD46EDFA81/0/faccba.pdf, p. 29.


Note: Per collective bargaining agreement in effect in 2010.

http://www.olympic.edu/NR/rdonlyres/2F796ECC-49D8-4D56-936B-72BD46EDFA81/0/faccba.pdf

http://www.olympic.edu/NR/rdonlyres/2F796ECC-49D8-4D56-936B-72BD46EDFA81/0/faccba.pdf, p. 30


Highest Olympic College full-time faculty annual salary, $64,813.



http://www.olympic.edu/NR/rdonlyres/2F796ECC-49D8-4D56-936B-72BD46EDFA81/0/faccba.pdf, p. 30


Highest Olympic College full-time faculty annual salary, $64,813.

Olympic College full-time faculty annual salary range is from $37,261 to $64,813.





Consider the actual annual earnings of four Olympic College faculty—one part-time and three full-time instructors.

2010 Annual salary of Olympic College part-time faculty Jack Longmate. Per “FindTheData” at http://washington-employees.findthedata.org/. Retrieved on 22 February 2013.

Justification for SB 5844 Example 1. Part-time instructor annual income

http://washington-employees.findthedata.org/


$21,886

Justification for SB 5844 Example 1. Part-time instructor annual income



$21,886


Note: This represents teaching 7 five-credit courses, which is close to the maximum allowable workload for an adjunct under the workload “cap” imposed by Olympic College. (9 five-credit classes is a full-time load).

Example 1. Part-time instructor annual income



$21,886



An annual income of $21,886 is a poverty-level income.




$21,886



An annual income of $21,886 is a poverty-level income.

Yet it is close to the maximum possible income for an Olympic College part-time instructor.



2010 Annual salary of Olympic College full-time faculty and current faculty union Head Negotiator .Per “FindTheData” at http://washington-employees.findthedata.org/. Retrieved on 22 February 2013.

Justification for SB 5844 Example 2. Full-time instructor annual income


http://www.Washington-employees.findthedata.org


$106,357


http://www.washington-employees.findthedata.org/





$106,357


Note: $64,813 is the topmost salary per the Olympic College full-time faculty salary schedule.

Example 2. Full-time instructor annual income






$106,357



The difference between the topmost salary on the salary schedule ($64,813) and the actual earnings ($106,357) is extra income through teaching overtime, called overloads or moonlighting.







$106,357


$106,357- 64,813

Moonlighting Earnings (min.) $41,544






2010 Annual salary of Olympic College full-time faculty and former faculty union Head Negotiator.Per “FindTheData” at http://washington-employees.findthedata.org/. Retrieved on 22 February 2013.




$109,174




$109,174


$109,174- 64,813





2010 Annual salary of Olympic College full-time faculty and current faculty union Treasurer. Per “FindTheData” at http://washington-employees.findthedata.org/. Retrieved on 22 February 2013.




$109,982




$109,982


$109,982- 64,813






Statewide data on full-time and part-time faculty and implications


http://www.sbctc.edu/college/studentsvcs/5staff_1112.pdf, p. 58

State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, 2011-12 Academic Year Report, p. 58

3,455 FTE-Ffull-time faculty






3,436 FTE-Fpart-time faculty (about 8,000 individuals)






434 FTE-F in moonlighting
















Whenever full-time faculty moonlight (teach courses “in addition to their contracted workload”), they displace part-time faculty jobs.



It should be no surprise why full-time faculty have not bargained job security for part-time faculty.



Job security for part-time faculty would interfere with the ability of full-time faculty to moonlight.



Job security for part-time faculty would interfere with the ability of full-time faculty to moonlight, which can mean an extra annual income of over $40,000 for full-time faculty.



Job security for part-time faculty would interfere with the ability of full-time faculty to moonlight, which can mean an extra annual income of over $40,000 for full-time faculty.

Job security for part-time faculty and moonlighting for full-time faculty constitute a conflict of interest.


Only when there is a community of workers with common interests and working conditions can a union function properly.


Only when there is a community of workers with common interests and working conditions can a union function properly.

SB 5844 would replace the dysfunctional arrangement of the status quo whereby all faculty, full-time tenured and part-time non-tenured, are obligated to belong to the same collective bargaining organization. It would enable collective bargaining units to be composed of those with a community of interests.