Month: November 2011

The concept of “fair share” derives from section 11 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act (IELRA). This law states that the “bargaining representative”, in our case the CLC-AFO, collects dues from bargaining unit members who are not members of the CLC-AFO.

Who is a member of the bargaining unit (BU)? Any adjunct who has taught a minimum of 3 credit hours for 3 consecutive semesters becomes a member of the bargaining unit in that third semester. The CLC-AFO does not represent adjuncts who are in only their first or second semester.

Once an adjunct has become a member of the bargaining unit, s/he can opt to formally join the CLC-AFO by signing a membership form.

Why do non-union members pay dues? Because once they become part of the bargaining unit, they are represented by the union, and enjoy the same benefits and salary increases as members. BU members also are protected by the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) just as the union members are. However, BU members who have not formally joined the union cannot vote in union officer elections or to ratify contracts and do not have access to many union perks provided by Local 504, the IFT and the AFT, e.g. retail discounts, auto insurance, etc.

Because BU members enjoy all of the protections and provisions of the CBA, they pay union dues. This is state law. The CLC-AFO officers cannot change this.

Dues are assessed depending upon how much you make each semester.  For the 2011-2012 academic year, the dues structure is as follows: Continue reading “What Does It Mean to Be a “Fair Share” Adjunct?”

Last spring we welcomed the part-time career and academic counselors and librarians into the CLC-AFO. One small change that was made is that the “Teaching Preference Form” (TPF) became the “Adjunct Preference Form” (APF) in order to accommodate our new colleagues.

 

When completing your APF, your CLC-AFO officers suggest the following:

 

1. Be as flexible as possible with days, times, and locations. Several divisions have large concentrations of GFO adjuncts now, and cannot possibly honor everyone’s request for “Tuesday/Thursday” back to back!

 

2. List all courses that you are qualified to teach, are interested in teaching and/or have taught before. These should be in descending order.

 

3. Department Chairs change, administrators come and go. The new person may not know us as well as his/her predecessor did. Use the “Comment” box to make special requests or to clearly state what you’d really like to teach.

 

4. Watch for an e-mail confirmation from your Division that your APF has been received. When you receive it, save it to a specially created folder. If you do not receive the confirmation, contact your Division immediately.

 

5. Print a hard copy of your APF.

 

Please note that the College’s obligation to GFO adjuncts is one 3 credit hour course. And it need not be the first one listed on your APF. As long as they have made a “good faith offer” that reflects what was on your APF, they’ve met their obligation under the Union contract.

 

Many of us have full time jobs, teach part-time at other colleges or have other commitments that put real constraints upon when, where and what we can teach for CLC. This is understandable. However, our divisions/departments sometimes face funding shortages or low enrollment which reduces the number of classes being offered for the next semester. We adjuncts rarely know this until we get that dreaded phone call or e-mail informing us that our class has been cancelled.  And it makes it difficult for our department chairs to offer us a re-assignment if we’ve listed only one course.

Moral of the story: try to make your preferences as broad as possible in order to maximize the chances of getting an assignment or reassignment.