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.
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