One of the greatest challenges of being Guild President is working to address problems that have causes that go beyond our immediate institution and which are deeply systemic in nature. An example of this would be how many industries as well as public entities, starting in the 1970s, began an overall shift from employing a majority of full-time workers to relying on a majority of part-time workers. Unfortunately, our community colleges also experienced this shift on reliance of part-time faculty to balance their budgets and the challenges that this created for a growing number of part-time faculty.
The Glendale College Guild was formed during this transitionary period in 1972. Then shortly after the formation of our union, Proposition 13 was passed in 1978, exacerbating the challenges of balancing a budget on limited revenues. Then, in 1979, our union voted to join the California Federation of Teachers. I point this out because our union has been fighting to address the inequities faced by our part-time sisters, brothers, and siblings for many decades. We have been doing this while ensuring that we also protect our full-time siblings as well.
When I joined our negotiations team, led by Chief Negotiator Gordon Alexandre in 2004-2005, I was proud to join a team that worked hard to protect and improve the wages, benefits, hours, and working conditions of all our members. During my early years with the Guild, I had the pleasure of working with leaders, such as Mike Allen, Gordon Alexandre, Phyllis Eckler, Sarkis Ghazarian, Eric Johnston, Mark Maier, Steve Marsden, Greg Perkins, and Isabelle Saber, who were committed to improving the situation for part-time faculty members as was I. There, of course, were others during my early years on the Guild that worked hard on behalf of part-time faculty, so I apologize if I missed anyone.
A major challenge that we faced back then was ensuring that our part-time siblings had access to health care. I feel very fortunate as a full-time faculty member to have access to the health care coverage that our College provides. I felt strongly then as I do now that everyone should have access to affordable health care. Around 2005, our Guild negotiated health care for our part-time faculty that would be partially subsidized by the District. At the time, we were at the cutting edge.
One thing is for sure, the Guild can never rest on its laurels. We can always do better and there is often a struggle to even keep what we have gained. Since then, the Guild has continued to work towards greater equity and parity for part-time faculty on many fronts including health care. In order to keep this article relatively short, I will keep the topic focused on health care and fast forward a bit to around 2013 when I became Guild President for the first time with Darren Leaver as the Chief Negotiator. I recall being at a CFT Convention with Juliann Wolfgram, who is now the 2nd Vice President for the Guild. She asked me at the convention why we don’t provide part-time faculty with the same health insurance as full-time faculty. I remember telling Juliann that, unfortunately, this problem had to be addressed at the State level because of the significant funds that would be required to ensure that part-time faculty have access to the same health insurance plan that full-time faculty receive. Since then, she has tirelessly advocated for this most important cause as well as other important issues facing part-time faculty.
Fast forward to October 15, 2024. This is an historic date for us and I feel extremely fortunate to be Guild President, again, at this point in time. This is the date when the Board of Trustees ratified the tentative agreement (TA) on Part-Time Faculty Health Insurance. The Guild membership had ratified the TA shortly before. When the TA was officially ratified by both the Guild and the Board of Trustees, it felt like we made it to the top of the mountain, at least with regard to part-time faculty health insurance. However, like when we played king of the mountain when we were kids, we know we must protect our position. We got here thanks to the collective effort of hardworking and compassionate people. Although I know that I will inadvertently leave some people out, so I apologize in advance, I want to thank our Chief Negotiator, Roger Bowerman, and the members of our negotiations team. I also want to thank District Chief Negotiator, Brittany Grice, and the members of the District's negotiations team as well as GCC President, Ryan Cornner, for working with us to get to the signed agreement. I also want to thank all the Guild leaders and chief negotiators and the negotiations team members from the past. It is their work that this was built on. I want to also thank our immediate past chief negotiator, Caroline Depiro, for getting language in the contract that allowed for this last step to occur when the budget finally allowed for it. Beyond GCC, the California Federation of Teachers (CFT) and the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC) tirelessly advocated for and lobbied legislators on the morally right thing to do, which was to provide funding for part-time faculty health insurance so that they could have equal coverage as their full-time counterparts at the colleges where they work.
As was mentioned earlier, the struggle is not over. We have to continue to work to maintain sufficient funding for the Part-Time Faculty Health Insurance Program from the State. This takes a lot of work and sacrifice. It takes careful planning, patience, and timing. Moreover, it takes teamwork with effective social networks built on mutual respect and trust that stretch across many areas. I feel very fortunate that we have our Guild members in key places, such as Juliann Wolfgram serving on the Part-Time Faculty Committee for the CFT and our former Guild President, Emily Haraldson, serving as Southern California Ambassador for FACCC. These are two critical organizations that continuously work to improve the lives of all faculty. They are going to be essential in maintaining and hopefully even improving the Part-Time Faculty Health Insurance Program. Moreover, we are blessed to have Mike Allen, who, for the past few decades, has continued to effectively advocate for parity and equity for our part-time faculty siblings. I also feel very honored and privileged to serve and represent our local, AFT 2276, as I engage with leaders at the State level.
I want to end by saying that we are only as strong as our members. Therefore, we must all continue to play our role no matter how big or small to bring about positive changes. As I write this article, we are approaching Election Day, November 5, 2024. This is an excellent reminder for us to be politically engaged and do our part to elect legislators who will defend and advance all that we hold dear. Thank you for everything that you do for our students and our College.
Richard T. Kamei
October 25, 2024
Glendale Community College | 1500 North Verdugo Road, Glendale, California 91208 | Tel: 818.240.1000
GCC Home © 2024 - Glendale Community College. All Rights Reserved.