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3 ’ART-TIME CONTRACT SETTLED ews Clackamas Print Wednesday, March 12, 2008 tractnegotiations end Dari-time faculty reflect improvements and down- of new agreement nondo Borboa ladeamos Print ckamas’ Part-Time Faculty lation [PTFA) said it is satisfied :he contract negotiations settled le college after the board of educa- itified »collective agreements Feb. lough they did not receive all the eratiqns they were negotiating for, Barmining Chair Tim Pantages In general, this new contract has significant improvements over "e had (prior contracts).” ikamas is not the only Oregon edu- ------- .1 institution --------- currently urrently in in talks talks with with f, faculty or classified employee . Schools all across the state are in itions, with nearby Portland State -sity Btcently coming to agree- with Its own part-time faculty but .cing (upcoming full-time faculty :t renegotiations. ongoing, perpetual dispute n thelraditional elements of‘labor’ nanagement’ indirectly impacts M^Kudents, as the eventual end may wave an effect on their aca- choices and class flexibility. :ording [ U to Vice President „Z of lion Baldwin laldwin van der Bijl, the f further concessions to the PTFA arbitrary, but rather an attempt to a balance between all these differ- acems Ístudents, staff, faculty) and ms we pave going. I mean, running bl is still a business.” iitionally, schools have always VAN DER BUL TEETOR used a combination of part-time and full-time instructors in order to both meet their budgetary limitations, and as a vetting process for finding and hiring top-quality teachers. From labor’s point of view, working less than full-time is often a way to make ends meet while searching for full-time employment. It may also be a means of generating a side income while taking care of otner personal responsibilities. “Some of our r people are raising fami- lies, or are retire« ;a but want to keep busy,” said President of the PTFA Rosemary Teetor. “Others are just trying to earn a living wage until they „ can get "hired ni on in a tenured"position.” ’ Like any other business for profit, it is cheaper in the short term for the school to hire part-time help in order to fill holes in staffing and to cover unexpected absenc es. This is balanced by the corresponding high rate of turnover and the resulting long-term loss of productivity. One major incen tive that Clackamas offers in order to retain quality person nel is the lack of a cap in the number of units taught per instructor. Most other insti tutions traditionally limit the number of hours part-time fac ulty can teach. The policy often forces new or untenured instructors to work at a number of different schools at the same time in order to earn a living wage. This in turn leads into the curious situ ation in which a part- time instructor might actually be working more than full-time yet not receive the equivalent pay or benefits. The new contract agreement attempts to address the issue by giving part-time Clackamas faculty a tiered pay and cost of living increase, more flexibility and benefits as well as paid sick leave and office hours. Almost all part-time instructors will receive a 6.7 percent increase this year retroactive to July 1. For the next two school years, they will receive at least a 3.7 percent raise each year. However, the new contract does not include additional health benefits for members working more than 50 percent of full-time hours, nor does it address the issue of pay equity between part-time and full-time instructors. Currently, various academic deans are being asked to consider in the fiiture how they structure their department pro grams and allot class schedules. The way students might be affected is if cuts are made in one department in order to fill needs in another. For example, an English literature class that might now be open for enroll ment nine different times a week, but can only fill three quarters of the avail able seats, might be pared back to five sessions a term in order to fill classes. This would limit choices for interested students who find their chosen class times cut. Conversely, a math class that perpetu ally has more students on the wait list than seats available might have extra classes opened. Here, the hiring of part- time faculty comes in. The school can more easily find instructors for a few classes in various disciplines than hire one instructor to fill all the needed slots. “The last thing we want to do is to cut programs wholesale,” van der Bijl said. “We would rather tighten up schedules in low attendance classes and open up new classes that are now impacted.” In part, the belt tightening by the school board is a symptom of the larger, national slowdown in the economy and the resulting trickle-down cuts into state . and local budgets. The problem is further complicated by the drop in total student enrollment last year, the numbers by which annual funds from the state budget are calculated. Although the numbers are not exact, van der Bijl estimates that last year the total Clackamas student population dropped by approximately 5 percent from last year. Population numbers are calcu lated by averaging all hours of student instruction anti divided by 12 units per student to estimate total full-time student attendance. What the drop in attendance means financially is a budget loss to the school of over $1.7 million of state funds over the course of the next three years. This means that some hard choices will have to be made in order to meet the shortfall. Powered by OIT "lam surprised at the amount of demand in the job market for the skills! gained In the IT program. - Aaron Lang, fT Graduate 2007 :ar Edi t _______ J writes, illary Clinton can- mtroj her husband, can shefre trusted n theglbuntry?” In TIHoffer this from [s “Winter’s Clackamas DC Bookstore Payback Get a Degree that Prepares you for New High-Demand Careers: Utes [to mg all the |o that feat, /ourself CALL TOOAY TO MEET WITH AN ADVISOR a OPEN ENROUMEffí S&> Up tot spring •Information Technology -System Analyst - Product Developer - Health Informatics •Operations Management termfKMr es that any ntial candidate r or his spouse worthy to lead there won’t be (didate to be Jwhole country. t-Trerise, jl Jamas Print [ Clackamas Print 00 S. 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Offer valid March 17 P roduction A ssistant : Chris Young S taff W riters / P hotographers : Dale Balbi, Armondo Borboa, Kenton Benfield, John Hurlburt, Nick Komafel, Genyva Laubach, Riley Lundgren, Christina Maggio, Jess Sheppard, John Shufelt f ft D epartment A dviser : Melissa Jones D epartment S ecretary : Pat Thompson G oals : The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the stu dent body college administration, its faculty or The Print. E-mail comments to chiefed@dackamas. edu.
