GUEST OPINION
Students at PCC (File Photo – pasadena.edu)
Part-time faculty at Pasadena City College (PCC) has no health benefits, although Gov. Newsom has earmarked a $200 million increase in his 2022-23 budget for a fund from which the state’s 73 local community college districts will have a Reimbursement can be obtained for incidental healthcare costs.
By Alexis Moore
These state funds are ongoing and must be negotiated locally between the local district management and the collective bargaining bodies (union) and approved by the local board of trustees. However, there is a problem at Pasadena City College. Apparently, ongoing labor problems at the college are causing the union leadership and the district to delay meetings and negotiations on the terms of medical insurance for part-time faculty at PCC.
These long-awaited benefits for PCC’s nearly 700 part-time faculty are a collective bargaining issue that requires Parties to meet promptly and determine how the benefits will be distributed.
The Federal Chancellery has given the parties the green light to negotiate this important advantage Everyone Part-time faculty members work in the community college system, but the parties seem unable to come together to negotiate the details, and now hundreds of faculty members are without health insurance.
The district and union put negotiations on this mandatory collective bargaining issue on hold, and yet they wrote in early November last year, according to the PCC Human Resources website:
District and association agree on reopening Article 4 – Ancillary Services within 14 days of receipt of instructions from the California Community College Chancellor’s Office regarding part-time benefits.
While the Chancellery confirmed in an email to me on January 10, 2023:
Districts are free to negotiate terms for part-time faculty health insurance.
Regardless of what these two parties espouse, the fact remains
Part-time employees have health insurance now and there is no excuse for the inaction of gatekeepers here at the college.
I believe it’s the job of the Pasadena Community College District leadership—the trustees, the district management, and the faculty association—to honor their moral obligation and get back to the table to provide deserving part-time faculty with health care at PCC.
Alexis Moore is a part-time faculty attorney. She has worked in higher education, for over 35 years as an Associate Professor, 25 years at PCC, several regional CCCs and CSUs. She is a founding member of the Contingent Faculty for Equality.
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