The Cerritos College Faculty Federation, the union which represents faculty on campus, and its supporters took to the college’s board meeting on Sept. 11 to demand that the college pass a tentative agreement on health care coverage for full-time and part-time workers.
The Union was also able to win salary increases, ensure due process and disciplinary steps for faculty and better working conditions – such as codifying intellectual property rights.
Union members gathered at the Administration building and in the Cheryl A. Epple Board Room as leaders passed out red t-shirts and flyers that helped them present themselves as a unified force in front of the board.
While there has been a tentative agreement between the CCFF and the college, nothing is official until both the union votes for the agreement and the board accepts and approves the agreement.
Comments began with Jeff Freitas, the president of the California Federation of Teachers. Freitas has advocated for educators for over 20 years.
He said, “This is about healthcare. For both the full-time and part-time faculty, it is such an important thing. So important that the governor put money there to pay for part-timers to get this healthcare throughout this state.”
Freitas continued, “This speaks to the students as well because if we are not providing for the workers that we employ then what can the students expect when they go out in the world after they get their education?”
Adrianna LaFuente, an alumni of the college who now works for it, said. “When I found out that we didn’t have medical insurance for part-timers, that broke my heart. Not only because we’re not standing to our word of quality of life, but also because my son has Type 1 diabetes.”
“To take care of Type 1 diabetes is approximately around $25,700 a year, $2,000 a month, – for a single parent who just graduated from grad school, it’s almost my paycheck just to keep my son alive.”
LaFuente continued, “So as you will cover what’s in the ballot, I just want to urge you to take that into consideration. That this is what you’re standing for: promoting quality of life for the employees, for the students and for all of us to come back and try to give back to our communities.
“This is not only important for us who are in this room but it’s also important for our family members that are at home and they want to be taken care of as well. Thank you for your time and please keep those stories in your mind when you make those decisions because we’re real people too.“
For his part, the Cerritos College President, Dr. Jose Fierro, said that the biggest obstacle he faced was making sure that the decision was fair and financially healthy – made tenuous in the face of state budget issues at the local level.
April Bracamontes, the lead negotiator and the vice president of the CCFF, said that for the college it was ultimately about money and that the district said they couldn’t afford it.
“… especially for the part-time faculty health care, they are ultimately reimbursed 100% by the state, so we were really passionate about ensuring that happened – but yeah, it’s always money.
“Money is always the thing that keeps people from coming to an agreement on anything, it’s the scarcity of resources and so both sides found a middle ground and we were glad to move forward,” she said.
The union and the college will both be voting on whether or not to accept the agreement on Sept. 18 – the union’s voting period will end at 8 a.m. and the board will vote during the board meeting at 7 p.m.
Beyond just the union demonstration, several other topics were brought up at the board meeting such as the Native Plant Sanctuary on campus, the role that the college and Jovenes will share in student housing and the faculty stipend for culturally responsive pedagogy and practices initiative.
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