Two Union members, Lynn Wang and April Bracamontes, talked about the current contract that is on the table.

Both Wang and Bracamontes are a part of CCFF where Wang is the president, Bracamontes is the vice president of CCFF (respectively).

Wang is also a counselor (Undocu & Financial Aid) and Bracamontes is a communication studies instructor.

Their goal is to, “invest long term in our faculty,” Bracamontes said, “but also that … it’s (the contract) fair, not overly burdensome (and) that there are no discrepancies.”

The contract is important because it would be clear, on paper and fair. Since times are changing, they feel like the contract should express those changes.

The CCFF president clarified that everything is negotiable and the union is always willing to engage in conversation.

Wang explained the contract’s benefits, “it’s not just for faculty, it’s also for our students.”

The CCFF president said that working conditions (i.e not being exposed to COVID), increasing salary pay (rise of inflation) and increased pay for part-time faculty are currently on the contract.

Other sections of the contract contain cancellation of classes, health care (or health care reimbursements), evaluations (i.e how does the district evaluate faculty?) and pronouns.

Both Wang and Bracamontes explain that while money is tangible, the contract is more than just focused on pay.

The CCFF vice president explained the importance of competitive wages, “we can attract great part-time faculty to Cerritos College.”

“Our part-time colleagues earn about 60 cents to $1.00 of what we make”, Wang says.

Bracamontes mentioned that while $50/hour sounds good, “comparatively to the work that’s being done, it’s not necessarily competitive to other districts in the area.”

On the topic of working conditions, “one of the things we talk a lot about … is that ultimately faculty conditions are student learning conditions,” Bracamontes says.

Wang explained, “the bottom line is we’re here to improve working conditions, we are not interested in making it worse (or the status quo).”

Bracamontes gave an example of what the union is willing to do, which was informational picketing.

The informational picket took place on Oct 6, 2021 and they did the informational picket because their health care benefits were at risk. As a result of the picket, they were able to agree on the health care article.

In regards of a strike, “there are a lot of steps that need to happen before we even get there,” Wang explains.

Wang also explained why we should support the contract, “for faculty, it impacts their lives and their working conditions and for students, it impacts their learning conditions.”

The CCFF vice president cites Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as an example of what she was talking about.

There are different ways students can show their support. They can talk to the trustees, use zoom backgrounds (for instance the featured image) and write to the administration to show your support for the contract.

The CCFF president has plans to send out further communication, for instance, an electronic petition that if you support the contract, you can sign the petition.

Both are hopeful to reach an agreement before the semester ends but also understand that this negotiation may go to the summer or fall.