Share: mail

With PCC’s Faculty Association and the district scheduled to begin formal negotiations next week, both students and faculty members remain concerned about the lengthy number of disputes between the district and faculty members.

“Personally, I think the biggest issue for us students is whether or not winter intersession will be an option this academic school year,” journalism major Brianna Pounds said. “As a student I do care about other issues in regards to our faculty but I’m not aware of what the other issues they are facing.”

The Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) ruled in favor of the Faculty Association’s Unfair Practice Charge over the cancellation of Winter Intersession in December. Faculty groups on campus have criticized the administration’s decision to appeal the ruling, calling the decision a waste of time and resources.

Interim Director of Public Relations Valerie Wardlaw said in a statement that the appeal was filed because “the board believes strongly that the current normal academic calendar is best for students.”

“The Board believes strongly that the current normal academic calendar is best for student success,” the statement reads. “Of the 112 community colleges, 87 do not have winter sessions. The reason is that the current normal calendar synchronizes with Cal State Los Angeles and PCC’s major transfer targets.”

In addition to the calendar conflict, the faculty’s other concerns include compensation, working conditions, benefits and receiving full Cost of Living Adjustments, according to a recent survey taken by the Faculty Association.

Faculty Association President Roger Marheine said the treatment of adjunct professors and financial compensation are also among the important issues the faculty members hope to negotiate with the district next week.

“We haven’t had a pay increase in seven years,” Marheine said. “Of course management has routinely gotten pay increases. Another issue is the treatment of part-time faculty members. Part-timers have no job security, no healthcare and low pay.”

Wardlaw said that other colleges are able to pay their adjunct faculty higher salaries because they have higher class sizes and lower health benefit costs for full time faculty.

Faculty members also remain opposed to the realignment of the college into six divisions, arguing that it gets rid of the current deans and places more management work on the new department chairs.

However, the college continues to argue that realignment will eliminate unnecessary levels of administration.

“Having fewer schools saves administrative costs that can be put into more classes and support for students,” Wardlaw’s statement reads. “The other major benefit to students is enabling better scheduling of degree programs so that students can get a full schedule and graduate in three years or less.”

According to the school’s website, the PACCD has made many proposals to the PCC Faculty Association to resolve the dispute over the academic calendar, but so far both sides have stood their ground. The two sides return to the bargaining table on Friday, March 7.

Follow: rssyoutubeinstagrammail

2 Replies to “Faculty Association to restart negotiations with District”

  1. Spin over facts–so what else is new? Canceling winter, NCNs, realignment, block scheduling, Rosemead–the campus has never been given the facts behind any of these decisions. It’s just been spin after spin.

  2. So …. the Public Relations office is sent to answer for Rocha? But, what the heck does Wardlaw know about contract negotiations? It’s their way to send out spin to the campus, instead of facts. Don’t be shy, Mark!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.