The Chancellor’s budget for the 2015-2016 year includes $62 million for the hiring of full time faculty, but offers no mention, let alone any plan for, part time faculty and the decade old push to bring part time faculty salaries into parity with full time faculty salaries. There are approximately 45,000 part time faculty laboring in the California Community Colleges on the 112 campuses (72 districts) of the system, yet adjuncts continue to be compensated at rates between 50 and 60 percent of what full time faculty make for teaching the same class.

The California legislature at the beginning of the millennium made a commitment to provide $60 million in categorical funds specifically designated to raise part time faculty salary to a negotiated parity level with full time faculty for doing the same work. In that period, Pasadena City College set its parity goal as 87.5%–that is, a full time faculty member should be earning the equivalent of 87.5% of what a part time faculty member would earn when teaching the same class. This would include classroom time, student contact, and grading and preparation. The only responsibilities excluded from the part time faculty’s compensation was the obligation of full time faculty to participate in shared governance.

Using the method of calculation provided by the Board of Governors, a part time faculty member at PCC who is at Step 4, Col. 2 of the part time salary schedule should be receiving an hourly compensation of $112.54 per hour for an hour of classroom work. This compares to the full time faculty’s $128.61 hourly compensation at the same place on the salary schedule. The reality at PCC is that the Part Time Salary Schedule lists an hourly compensation of $67.82 per hour, just 57.73% of parity. PCC obviously has a long way to go to reach the goals set by the legislature.

The great recession of 2008 brought an end to the funding of the categorical program designed to assist colleges in raising part time salaries. It is even questionable if much of the money that did get to colleges before the budget crunch was actually used for the purpose it was intended. This money was rarely added into the part time salary schedules. More often the money was distributed as a “bonus” at the end of the year. Clearly a new approach needs to be developed to improve the compensation of the part time faculty member and to insure the continued quality of the community college.

In addition, when discussing parity, we should remember that full time faculty are not paid a straight salary alone, but they often also receive health care and other benefits paid for by the college, they receive larger matching contributions to their retirement accounts, and they have a contractual guarantee of job security. These additional considerations must also be accounted for in any discussion of parity.

Another troubling aspect of closing the parity gap is the suspicion that the more compensation a part time faculty member makes when he or she has worked at the college for many years, the more that person costs the college. There is a built in fiscal bias against long term part time faculty members. This spring, the Faculty Association were confronted with a number of instances where part time faculty of long standing suddenly found their classes reduced or eliminated, and younger, lower-on-the-salary-schedule, less experienced teachers were taking their former classes. While ageism is illegal in the workplace, it is often hard to prove and the process can take time. For part time faculty with no contract, there are often not remedies. Further, many part time faculty still feel, with good reason, that if they rock the boat, they may be in danger of being tossed out.

In the Spring 2015, after more than ten years of negotiations, the Faculty Association and the District signed an agreement providing part time faculty with three or more years of successful teaching at PCC a guarantee of one class each academic semester. The recent agreement that guarantees re-employment to the 1000 part time faculty is a step in the right direction, but it still leaves many part time faculty hanging when their former full employment of two or three classes is suddenly and inexplicably reduced to a single class. When a part time faculty member is faced with partial employment (for example, one class assignment when that person could take two or even three classes without exceeding the 67% limit), it often seems more time consuming to teach one class than to just move on.

Parity must mean more than equal pay. It must also mean equal access to all classes a part timer is qualified to teach, it must mean full employment, and it must mean parity in benefits and privileges enjoyed by full time faculty. So part time faculty must take control of their careers. They need to be active and vocal in questioning the status-quo and demanding equal compensation for equal work. If part time faculty don’t stand up for themselves, who will stand up for them?

Part time faculty are invited to be part of the Negotiating Council that the Faculty Association is forming to provide guidance and direction for the upcoming Spring negotiations. Join the discussion.