Equal Pay For Equal Work Now!!
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ALERT!
Letters to Gov. Davis needed by end of end of month!!!!
To the Unknown Adjunct









Message from A2K coodinator, Linda Cushing.

Okay, My Friends

Thanks to our united efforts throughout the state, we have generated remarkable success in bringing the issue of part-time faculty pay equity to the forefront. We have spoken with students, other faculty, local trustees, the state chancellor, and our legislators. By my estimate, we have garnered over 40,000 petition signatures to present to the governor.

As a result of much sustained effort from our coalition partners on many fronts, an $80 million supplemental budget line item, the majority of which must be used for part-time faculty pay, benefits and office hours, is wending its way through the legislature to the governor. Our state senators and Governor Davis hold our future in their hands. But, according to our legislative advocates in Sacramento, this historic agreement in consultation will be diluted or die if we do not put pressure RIGHT NOW where it counts. I know you are tired and I know it's the end of the term, but please, my colleagues, I am calling on you to work once more in concert - in coalition.

We want to blitz the state newspapers and grab the attention of the state senators and governors' staffers whose job it is to monitor and cut out editorials and public comment from papers throughout California.   (Yes, staffers are assigned to really DO that, and these letters and editorials are the "gifts that keep on giving," because they reach everyone: the governor and the legislators!) Furthermore, letters to the editor and editorials are assigned significantly more weight by the powers that be because they are published. NO MATTER WHAT ELSE YOU ARE DOING to help, here is what I am asking each of you to do in the NEXT TEN DAYS, by May the 1st:

1. WRITE A BRIEF LETTER-to-the-editor supporting the $80 million supplemental budget item, then fax or mail it to your local and/or regional paper right away. No emails unless the paper requests them. They are disregarded. (There is a draft letter at the end of this post for your reference.) Keep your letter short and sweet, generally less than 200 words, and include your address and daytime phone number (these are not published, but are used by the paper for confirmation and to contact you if there are questions.)

2. CALL YOUR LOCAL PAPER and ask to speak tothe education writer, or whomever covers community college issues. Tell them about the equal pay for equal work issue, and the supplemental budget item. Then ask them the best way to access the newspaper's editorial board. How do you get the editorial board's interest? Follow the trail from here and see if you can get your paper to write an editorial calling for support of the $80 million budget item.

3. REPORT BACK to the A2K list what you did and what you accomplished. We all want to know!

4. DON'T BE DISCOURAGED. Everything you do now is for the good. But, YOU MUST ACT NOW! We need these letters and editorials published before the May revise, perhaps May 10 - 15.

Remember, you are not alone. We must use the system to our advantage. We have RIGHT and MIGHT on our side when we act together. Pick up your pen and your telephone today. Onward!

Linda Cushing, Chair
ACTION 2000 COALITION


Draft Letter _________________________
TODAY'S DATE LOCAL NEWSPAPER FULL ADDRESS

Dear Editor: As a community college part-time teacher I receive (few/no) benefits, (little/no) job security, no office hour pay and a salary that is roughly 37 cents for each dollar earned by a full-time instructor - even though I am required to have the same academic qualifications and fulfill exactly the same teaching responsibilities. The California community colleges have 45,000 faculty, and, incredibly, nearly 30,000 of them are in the same situation as me. I love teaching, as do my colleagues, but it is growing more and more difficult for me to remain a teacher. Governor Davis and the state legislature must address this growing inequity by providing the money needed to improve our working conditions. I urge everyone who believes in basic human fairness, and in the quality and stability of our community college system, to support the proposed supplemental state budget item which will begin to remedy the unfairness to two-thirds of our community college faculty. When part-time faculty teaching the same class as full-time faculty demonstrate 100% commitment to our students, but only receive 37% of the pay, something is VERY wrong.

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