| Not So Lucky 21 |
| Written by Phil Ray Jack | |
| Tuesday, 20 May 2008 | |
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Margaret West has been teaching as a part-timer for Edmonds Community College twenty-one years. For several years, she has been offered annual "Assurance of Employment Contracts." Her students enjoy her classes, and her colleagues like working with her. She has been active in her local, serving on its Executive Council for almost eleven years as the Vice President of the Committee On Political Education (COPE) and the Vice President for Communications. Margaret has also served on (or led) the faculty team during six contract negotiations.
On the state level, Margaret has served on the AFT Washington Contingent Workers Committee and on AFT Washington’s Executive Board. She has testified in Olympia on behalf of her colleagues, and has proven herself to be passionate about education. At this year’s annual AFT Washington Convention, Margaret announced that she was running unopposed and would be the first part-timer to serve as president of the faculty union at Edmonds Community College. It would seem that a teacher like Margaret would be secure in her position at the college, so it came as a shock when Margaret’s dean informed her that she will no longer be employed there. Of course, the administration will point out that Margaret didn’t lose her job – she will simply not be re-hired. After all, she works on quarterly contracts. When the quarter is over, her contract ends. How can you lose a job you never really had. When she asked why she was being fired, Margaret was told (by a dean who has been with Edmonds Community College for less than a year), "Because I can." As unfair and appalling as this story may be, the tragic truth is that it’s not at all uncommon. Most of the full-time faculty who heard the story were stunned and angry to hear the news. Those of us who teach as part-timers were angry, but I’m afraid that we weren’t surprised. Most of us have similar stories to tell, and we all know of part-time faculty who have lost their jobs for less. When we talk about job security for part-time faculty, administrators argue that they need "flexibility." It even seems to make sense when you consider the fluctuation in student enrollment and the inconsistency of higher education funding on both the state and national levels.
But having 60% of college classes taught by part-time faculty is not "flexibility." It’s an excuse for abuse. There is no excuse for what happened to Margaret. The administration at Edmonds Community College should be ashamed of themselves. |
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Flexibility is such a “load of crap” that one sees red just thinking about it. Flexibility to abuse an entire class of employee “Because I can”?
AFT’s FACE legislation is a good start towards correcting this grave injustice. The report “The NEA and Contingent Academic Workers in Higher Education: NBI 2004-60 Action Plan” and the proposed NEA Resolution on “Contingent Faculty and Professional Staff Protection” (to go before the NEA RA this July) are a good start.
But its time to say enough. It is time for contingents to say, “I’m bad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!” Its time to instigate a massive effort to organize contingents everywhere. AFT, OEA, AAUP, or whatever is less important than getting contingents a voice in how they are treated and uniting them in a common voice.
To quote a very funny person in a very unfunny context, “Get ‘er done!” Now.
The dean’s personal decision may be wrong to dismiss an employee of 21 years. But what’s also wrong is the system that permits it. Certainly those who have proven themselves as capable educators deserve some measure of job protection and job security. And when someone of the stature of Margaret West can be dismissed after 21 years, it proves that there is none.
When I first learned of FACE (when Larry Gold announced it at COCAL in August of 2006), I understood that job security for contingent faculty was one of the objectives.
But unlike increasing the ratio of full-time to part-time or improving impoverished part-time salaries, JOB SECURITY DOES NOT INVOLVE MONEY. I made a comment to that effect at a conference on April 6, during which Margaret West was present.
Whether through legislation (e.g., incorporated into FACE?) or through collective bargaining (e.g., Vancouver Community College in Canada), it is imperative that job security come about. It is not right for the majority of college faculty to work in a perpetual probationary status.