by David Lau
Assembly Bills Give Adjuncts Right to Negotiate New Protections
Governor Brown has signed two bills, AB 1690 and 1379. Together they will give adjunct instructors new rights to negotiate seniority, including mandating workloads between 60%-67%. Adjunct instructors comprise two thirds of the workforce of the community college system in California and teach half of all classes, yet they often face uncertain conditions, even with many years of professional experience. These precarious workers walk on the moving sands of variable assignments at multiple institutions. The signing of these two bills by governor Brown will amount to strengthening job security for long-time adjuncts as bargaining on adjunct seniority is now stipulated in the law.
One-time adjunct Jose Medina (D-Riverside) drafted the original bill 1690, which would have required a guaranteed workload determined by seniority. Brown balked at signing while the Community College League of California called the bill one-size-fits-all. Brown had in recent weeks signed other worker related bills, including a new law mandating overtime pay for farm workers, but he was here insisting on “district flexibility” in negotiations, a species of his “local control” doctrine. A fix was in order, as Alexei Koseff, writing in the Sacramento Bee, notes: “But after the community colleges objected to proscriptive provisions that they said would have put them at a disadvantage in bargaining, the Legislature amended the measure with SB 1379, by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia.”
With reemployment rights today offered at only a minority of colleges in the state, the passage of this bill is a very real victory for adjuncts. CCFT Vice-president John Govsky testified before the assembly in support of this bill on two occasions. In this case, the persistence of the union and its activists has paid off. CFT will be working hard on the passage of Proposition 55 and other legislative priorities. With determination, the union is continuing a renewal California education. And there is no quality community college education in California without secure and thriving adjunct instructors.