Camden County College Adjunct Faculty Federation

AFT 4965

www.ccc-aft.org

     AFT Meets with Congressman Rob Andrews

Representatives of Camden County Higher Education Institutions met with Congressman Rob Andrews on Tuesday, November 27, 2007. Elaine Bobrove and Sharon Goldstein of the Camden County College Adjunct Faculty Association, Patrice Mareschal of Rutgers, and Amy Giovanetti, New Jersey ACE coordinator, spoke with Congressman Andrews about concerns regarding Higher Education issues.

Much of the discussion centered on H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007. Congressman Andrews assured us he would try to keep any amendments including language similar to the Academic Bill of Rights from the finished bill. He also expressed a need for increasing and safeguarding Pell Grants. Other concerns about the legislation were discussed; the Congressman instructed his staff to check the current status of these issues and get back to us.

The Congressman discussed proposed legislation regarding the National Labor Relations Board’s Kentucky River decision and said such legislation was being addressed in the Senate. The Kentucky River decision threatens the rights of workers to join unions if they perform any supervisory functions, no matter how limited.  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was also discussed; Andrews said it is unlikely there will be a reauthorization of the legislation until 2008.

Finally, Representative Andrews spoke about priorities for the future as he saw them. Primary was dealing with the deficit, followed closely by healthcare and education. The latter includes emphasis on special education, NCLB, Pell Grants, and health. Andrews said Congress must come up with the money to effectuate these goals, and reminded the group that Bush’s tax cuts expire in 2009. At that point Congress has to decide whether to renew them, let them all expire, or, he suggested, selectively renew them for those making less than $300,000/ year. This would free up “trillions of dollars” that could be spent on other priorities.

NJSFT Community College Meeting

Members of eight NJSFT Community College locals met on Saturday, February 2, 2008 to discuss a wide range of subjects affecting these locals from their relationship with NJSFT to involvement in the AFT FACE (Faculty and College Excellence) campaign. There were representatives there from Union, Raritan, Sussex, Mercer, Middlesex, Camden, Hudson and Passaic.

 NJSFT membership is made up of locals from K-12 and from the community colleges. It includes both staff and instructional units. This is the first time that a large group of community college locals met separately from the parent body to discuss their unique problems.

 Several suggestions were made which would help to strengthen the relationship between the community college locals and the NJSFT. They ranged from ways to increase the locals’ viability to increasing the potency and visibility of the community college locals.

 One of the major problems faced by community college locals and particularly those representing adjuncts is that there is often little continuity in membership because adjuncts are “at-will” employees. There is a need for on-going training and personnel who are particularly knowledgeable of the specific concerns of higher-ed locals.

 Faculties at New Jersey’s 4-year public colleges are primarily represented by either the College Council or Rutgers University. Both of these organizations have lobbyists to promote their interests. Consequently, legislation often promotes their needs without addressing the particular concerns of community college faculty. The community college locals have asked for ways of aligning ourselves with these groups so that prospective legislation can be more inclusive of our needs. The group also agreed to present a resolution at the NJSFT Convention in April endorsing NJFST’s commitment to the FACE campaign.

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