AB 420 Passes Senate Education Committee

Subject: AB 420 PASSES SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE!!!
From: CFTpters@aol.com
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 23:12:03 -0400 (EDT)

After a veritable bloodfest which pitted every major faculty organization in the state against the Chancellor's Office and his Board of Governors, professional lobbyists working for management and boards of trustees, and an assortment of community college districts who have officially registered their opposition (including my own Los Rios CCD, whose Chancellor shamefully appeared to testify against the bill), AB 420 passed the Senate Education Committee--with one important modification.

Sensing defeat in the wings, the main strategy of the forces of evil, apart form the usual bureaucratic smoke and mirrors tactics, was to play the race card by objecting to the seniority provision as inhibiting their ability to hire and maintain a diverse teaching staff (as if they really care--for example, the Los Rios District's top nine administrators are all white). Fair enough--ALL the major faculty groups support diversity hiring and understand that exceptions to seniority may sometimes be necessary to meet those goals. However, offering to amend the bill accordingly on the spot was not good enough for the CEOs and their hired guns, who convinced some of the committee members that the precise language would be legally problematical given Prop 209 (a valid point)--hence the necessity to at the very least postpone the vote until after the summer recess so that a battery of attorneys can study the issue. This of course would give the highly paid lobbyists an opportunity to work on the Senate ED committee members for several more weeks.

What to do? Scott Wildman, the sponsor of our bill, came to the rescue with a brilliant maneuver: Fine, he says, if that's the only problem, I'll pull the seniority clause and we'll work on that and reintroduce it as a separate bill later, but let's vote on the rest NOW. So there you have it--pro-rata pay, medical benefits, and paid office hours sail through, and the administrative monolith is licking their wounds tonight! Moral of the story: If you're going to essentially put all your eggs in one basket, make sure you choose the right one!

Next step will be the Senate Appropriations Committee and then the full floor of the Senate...and finally, Governor Pete Davis. So, we won a very important battle, but this is no time to let up. More details will follow on what needs to be done as soon as I get a day or two of much needed rest and catch up on everything else that's been on the back burner this week.

One final note--we need to all express our heartfelt appreciation to a whole lot of people for this latest victory for pter rights. First and foremost there is the CFT Legislative Director Judith Michaels along with CFT Leg Reps Dolores Sanchez and Mike Weimer, who have been working night and day lobbying for AB 420. Jonathan Lightman, Exec Director of FACCC, and David Hawkins, FACCC Leg Advocate, have also bent over backwards on this issue (FACCC cosponsored the bill). CTA actively supported the bill, and their lobbyist Toni Triguero also was extremely helpful.

Then there is the California Part-Time Faculty Association (CPFA), whose core members traveled to Sacramento to testify at the BOG and Senate Ed hearings and have been bombarding the Chancellor's Office with email. Also, it was at their impetus that the Tuesday BOG demonstration occurred, although certainly hordes of students from my political science class made it much more effective. These CPFA folks put in a monstrous amount of time and energy fighting for pt rights, receiving no compensation for it and frequently personally absorbing significant travel and other expenses. If you haven't already done so, JOIN THIS ORGANIZATION! (Cheap dues: $20/yr; Info at www.surfari.net/~rsutter/elchorro).

Finally, there is Assemblyman Scott Wildman, the sponsor of AB 420, and his staff, who have done an outstanding and brilliant job getting the bill this far.

The best way you can express appreciation for these folks is to not let all this effort go to waste! We need YOUR help big time from here on out. Details to follow.

In solidarity,

Scott Suneson
Part-Time Faculty Coordinator
Community College Council
California Federation of Teachers, AFT, AFL-CIO
Email: CFTpters@aol.com