Chaparral 2023-2024: Knowing Your Rights with 2nd Vice President Juli Wolfgram

Hello, Part-Time Faculty!

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we are in the downhill crazy ride with finals and grading!  

I just have a few comments about our current TA ballot. We are slowly, but surely, making improvements in our contract to move towards Part Time faculty equity. We want to implement Glendale’s participation in the state reimbursement program for Part Time faculty healthcare benefits sooner rather than later. Thanks to our incredible negotiations team, headed by Caroline DePiro, one of the current TAs outlines a possible way for monies to jump start the implementation of GCC’s participation in the program. Be sure to vote for the TAs!

VOTE! Ratify the TA package! Guild will need your personal email for the online ballot. If you have not done so already, please complete the form when Guild secretary, Maite Peterson, opens the ballot. Your vote counts!

Know Your Rights! Winter session is soon upon us. Although our enrollment is very slowly recovering, many of us still did not receive assignments. If you did not receive an assignment or if your class was cancelled due to lack of enrollment, remember that it is your right to receive Unemployment Benefits, even if you only have a reduction in pay. Do not hesitate to use this right!

I would like to remind you to:

• Never say you are on break. Quote the 1989 Cervisi decision and reassert that you “have no reasonable assurance of employment.” Remember, because we are contingent labor, we can lose our assignments at any time.
• Apply the day after the official end of the semester, which is Saturday, December 16, at Glendale. Benefits are NOT retroactive, so submit your application as soon as you can. The one week waiting period has been reinstated, so once again we will lose a second week of benefits because we cannot apply until Sunday. We must suffer this loss one more semester.
• Do not list your chair as your immediate supervisor. List the director of HR, Brittany Grice, and list the HR phone number, 818-240-1000, ext. 5921.
• Appeal any denial of benefits, if you feel said denial was based on misinformation. Also, know that there is a time limitation for EDD to legally collect overpayments.
• Contact your Assemblyperson if all else fails. Our representatives are sorely aware of the backlog at EDD, and each one has a direct EDD contact who will work on your behalf.

If you are renewing a previous claim, remember that consulting any professional list serve or professional publications like Chronicle for Higher Education, EdSource, etc. qualifies as actively looking for employment. You are not expected to look for employment outside your field.

Once again, with the caveat that I am not an expert on EDD issues, I would refer you to a more detailed explanation on how to apply and on how to reopen a claim at contingentworld.com.

Finally, I wish you least stress with finals and grading, but more importantly, I wish you the best of the holidays this year!

In unity,

Juli

CFT Part Time Faculty Committee

2^nd Vice President

Glendale College Guild AFT#2276

1500 North Verdugo Road

Glendale, CA 91208

jwolfgra@glendale.edu